


Blood and lavender

by Sashasaur84



Category: ATEEZ, bts
Genre: Best Friends to Lovers, Blood, Explicit Language, F/M, Mild Noncon, Vampires, some sexual content, some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 42,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26890678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sashasaur84/pseuds/Sashasaur84
Summary: All is fair in blood and war
Relationships: Jung Wooyoung/Reader
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the tags and make sure nothing is going to trigger you! I’m not good at trigger warnings but I will say I’m trying to keep things pretty mild so hopefully everything stays reader friendly :) if anything makes you uncomfy feel free to skip ahead! My apologies in advance for sucking at warnings.

“So I think it’s time that you learned more about what I am.” You look up at your best friend, sitting cross legged on your bed while you sort through some paperwork on the floor. You have known Wooyoung since right after you graduated. He quickly became something like family to you since you have no real family to speak of. You spend all of your time together. He is even paying for this apartment for you so you can go to school full time and not worry about bills. You aren’t sure how he affords it but then you don’t really understand what it is he does for a living anyway. You tend to not ask questions. You figured out what Wooyoung was only a few months after you became friends, you just chose to leave it alone. You knew he’d tell you when he was ready. You continue rustling through your paperwork, looking for a document you need for school. He continues on the back of your silence. “I know you know. I just want to give you the opportunity to ask whatever questions you want. I know I can trust you with this, and as my best friend you deserve to know everything. I don’t like having secrets.”  
You look up at him again, this time taking more time to take in his sharp, handsome features. You can see this conversation is important to him by the look of sincerity and uncertainty in his eyes but you aren’t sure why he’s chosen to bring this up now. You set the papers to the side and scoot up closer, right to the edge of the bed, giving him your full attention. “I guess I’ve never really given it much thought… so that is what you call it right? You’re a vampire? Or do you have some special less cliche name for it I don’t know about.” He smiles down at you. You can see a bit of relief wash over him. He’s glad you are taking on the conversation. “Yes. We’re vampires. There’s not really a better term for people who live off of blood that I know of.” You raise an eyebrow at him. “We? Who is ‘we’?” He rolls his eyes. “What did you think it was just me roaming around out here? The original blood sucking monster?” Guess you walked into that one. It had just never occurred to you there were more. It’s odd enough being friends with just one. He continues, “You’ve heard me speak of my brothers? They aren’t necessarily by blood, although I guess in a sense they are…” he chuckles and shakes his head letting his thought trail off there. You have heard him mention his brothers and it sounds like he’s got quite a few. You suppose it would make sense they would be like him.  
“Wait so how many of you are there?” You ask, trying to wrap your head around the big picture here. “In total? God knows. My brothers and I are eight, but there are other covens.” You nod and just let the possibility of those numbers sink in. “So it’s just you and your brothers? No wives or families? Or do vampires not do that? Are you like, dead?” He shakes his head. “I wouldn’t say dead. I just function differently than you. My body and organs are adapted differently than yours. I’m almost like a reptile. I eat about once a week and I’m good... but look,” he takes your hand and gently places it against his chest, “I still have a heartbeat, see?” Your heart flutters a little. Yes, you might have a little bit of a thing for Wooyoung but you can’t help it. He’s sweet and funny and charming and handsome… completely out of your league and apparently a vampire but still… “and as far as the whole families and wives thing… romance for vampires can be really complicated. So yes, it’s just my brothers and I. I’m actually glad you asked about them because they’re sort of what this is about. I’d like you to meet them. You’re my best friend and I figure if you’re going to stick around for good you should be in the loop as far as my life goes.” A big smile crosses your face. That’s why he was nervous, he wants to introduce you to his family.  
“Woo, I’d love to.” You say, a soft smile painting your lips. His expression is warm and a lot more relaxed. You really do love him, he’s become such an important part of your life and for him to open up like this is a really big deal. “So you…. eat people. I mean I guess you don’t eat them but you…” He can tell you’re trying to be delicate about this and he stops you. “Yes, I feed off humans. I try to avoid killing if I can though. Also, technically I don’t have to feed on people. I could survive off animals just as easily.” You never thought about that as an option. Now you are curious. “So you could live off animals but I’m going to guess you mostly feed on people. Do we just taste better or something?” He giggles at the question, and comes down off the bed to join you on the floor. “It doesn’t taste any different. Honestly the only reason we feed off humans is convenience really. If I stick to animals, I have to physically go out and hunt for my food. People are easier to come by.” You nod thoughtfully at this revelation. “So where do you get your victims?” You ask in a goofy dramatic voice. “Well, you love to talk shit about me being a whore. Did it never occur to you that I might be taking girls home for another reason?” Your eyes widen as you realize.  
“Holy shit so you’re not fucking them? You’re just feeding on them?” He chuckles in amusement at your bewildered expression. “Oh no, I’m definitely fucking them make no mistake. It’s just that they also serve a practical purpose.” You nod, satisfied with that answer. “So why is it complicated?” You ask, revisiting one of his previous remarks. He looks confused so you explain. “You said romance for your kind can be really complicated. What’s so complicated about it?” He pauses, unsure where to begin. “A lot of reasons. We can have shallow relationships, people we fuck around with and whatever but serious relationships can be a lot because it puts your partner at risk. Any enemies you or your clan have are suddenly their problem.” You still don’t understand why that’s so bad. “Well I mean vampire chicks have got to know how to handle that right? Why would that scare them?” He shakes his head and you realize there’s more at play here you aren’t grasping. “So, something you’ll find surprising is that usually vampires don’t date other vampires. There’s a couple reasons for this. One, the clans thing. You can’t really just unite covens. So generally one will have to choose to leave their own and that typically doesn’t happen. The second thing that’s important to know with us is that vampires mate for life. There is a whole ritual to it, and a lot goes into it. If you choose someone as your mate it binds you for life, therefore if something were to go south… you are still stuck with that person even after the relationship is over. Considering our never ending life spans… you can see how this might be a problem.”  
This topic interests you. You had no idea all this mating stuff was a thing or that it was so complicated. “Wait so what is the ritual? How can you be permanently stuck with someone?” His expression is serious but a ghost of a smile plays at his lips. “We can get into the ritual another time but basically it combines your consciousness. You literally become one. You hear each other’s thoughts, you can see through each other's eyes… it’s really intense. If the right people are mated it can be very useful, but if you mate with the wrong person… it can ruin your life. That’s why it’s super rare to come across a mated pair. You have to be really, really confident you are making the right decision. Most people shy away from it even if they are madly in love and involved just because there’s always that chance things will change.” You nod and stare into the carpet, processing. “Why do you know so much about it?” You are almost afraid to know the answer. You hold no claim to Wooyoung but you know it’ll hurt if you find out he’s had a secret mate all this time or someone is literally living in his head rent free. You sense in his gaze he knows why you asked and he immediately shakes his head, taking your hand as he talks, “when you are first turned you have a lot of conversations about this kind of stuff. Just the basic ins and outs. I only know how the bond works because I know someone who’s done it.”  
He turns your hand over in his tracing little circles into your palm. He does little things like this to soothe you a lot. “Wait, so how do you turn someone?” You ask, curiosity renewed. He smiles and pulls you in so you are laying on his lap while he puts tiny braids in your hair. “So this one is also complicated and I don’t have the best explanation. I’ve never turned someone, or been present for one so I can only tell you the bits I know. It has something to do with an enzyme in our saliva I think? So normally we use this when feeding to calm our prey. Actually how the enzyme works has a lot to do with what your intent is. You can use it to calm, you can amplify that and make it a pleasurable experience, or you can use it to turn someone. Basically, you can only turn a human when they are inches from death. You bite them, with the intention of turning them and wait for the saliva to do its job. It spreads kind of like a virus, and it hijacks your whole system. Typically the person being turned is unconscious for all of this. The regenerative properties we transfer will put you in a coma like state while it tries to rebuild and reconfigure you into what we are. You either survive or you don’t. Some people wake up and some die.”  
You nod, and stare at the ceiling. “So, do you think you’re ready to meet my brothers?” He asks. You can hear the smirk in his voice and it makes you smile. “Yes. When can I meet them?” You sit up a little, propping yourself up against his chest. “Tomorrow if you’d like. Unless that’s too soon, it’s up to you. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed.” You shake your head before he even finishes speaking. “No tomorrow is great! I should probably learn names and stuff though huh?” He smiles. “We can do that tomorrow. It’s late.” You both shift so he can stand. You climb up on your bed and Wooyoung heads across the room to get his jacket from a chair in your kitchen. He touches it but doesn’t pick it up. “Actually, is it cool if I stay tonight?” You’re glad he asked. He usually stays if it gets really late. You nod enthusiastically and he comes to join you on your bed. His presence is very comforting. You turn out the lights and you both settle under the covers. It takes you a moment to get situated, but you settle for being snuggled against his chest, right over the slow beating of his heart. This is your favorite place. He is your favorite place. Sometimes you wonder if he knows. While you aren’t secretive about loving him you definitely don’t advertise it either. You couldn’t bear to lose him, especially over something silly like a confession he doesn’t reciprocate. You suppose he will probably never know, but you take this moment to commit him to memory in case he were ever to leave you. The faint warmth of his body, the scent of his cologne, the way his arms feel around you, you take it all in as sleep overtakes you. 

The next morning you wake up first, still safely cradled in his arms. You must’ve slept good because it doesn’t even look like you moved. You love when you can catch him asleep, he just looks so serene and beautiful. As much as you want to sit up you also don’t want to wake him. He’s a light sleeper, which thinking about it now is probably a vampire thing you just aren’t sure how exactly it correlates. He speaks without even opening his eyes and it startles you. “Good morning.” He shifts a little, giving you more freedom to sit up. He opens one eye, squinting in the early morning light. “I didn’t mean to wake you. You can go back to sleep if you want.” He shakes his head and slowly sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Nope, I’m good. I’m glad we actually got up this morning. It’ll give you more time to prepare before the big family meet up. I still have to teach you names and give you a general run down… so yeah. I’m good.” He smiles at you as you crawl out of bed to go make some breakfast. Then it dawns on you. You’ve been cooking for Wooyoung this whole time and you don’t even know if he eats actual food. “Wait, So I’ve been making you food this whole time… do you even eat? Or have you just been choking this down to make me feel better?” He bursts into laughter, your favorite sound in the world. “I can eat regular food still I just do it in moderation because my metabolism is different now. I can’t sustain myself off of it though. I eat just enough human food to keep myself from slimming down and looking all creepy due to my liquid diet but that’s really the only purpose it serves, nutritionally it’s like cotton candy. It’s delicious but not really doing anything for me.”  
You nod and turn back to the kitchen. You make breakfast and while you both eat, he starts to give you the rundown on his brothers. “Alright, you ready to get down to business?” You nod, mouth full of food. “Okay I guess we can start with the youngest. So our youngest is Jongho. He's the youngest in both senses of the word I guess, he was younger than the rest of us when he was turned, and he’s only been with us for a few years. He’s a sweet kid. He’s still kind of getting the hang of our ways but he’s doing well. I think you’ll like him. He’s a little shy though.” Okay, So jongho is the baby. “Yeosang is next. He’s physically around the same age as me but he’s only been with us for… I think twenty five years? I’m curious to see how you two will interact. He can be kind of aloof and judgmental at times but he comes from a good place. So if he comes off as a jerk just give him some time. He’s a really great friend to have once you understand him.” Yeosang is edgy. “Next up is San. I’d say San is who I’m closest to in the group. We were turned at around the same time so we sort of learned the ropes together. He always has my back. I’m very grateful for him. I think he’s going to love you. He was really excited when I told him I was going to bring you around the group. If you ever need anything and I’m not around he’s a good person to ask.” San is Woo’s other bestie. “Older than us is Yunho. I think you’ll like him too. He's a nice guy and he’s pretty funny. He tends to keep to himself though. I like to go to him for advice. He’s very wise, and he’s not one to judge.” Yunho is big brother.  
“There are three who are the oldest of us. None of us are sure how old they really are, we just know that they’ve been around a really long time. Seonghwa is our leader. He’s the one who turned the rest of us younger ones. That’s what makes him our leader. A part of him lives in us because he created us. It has to do with that ritual.” He explains. “He is very kind but he’s cautious. He worries a lot. I had to ask him first if it would be okay to bring you there.” The way he says it makes you anxious. “What did he say?” He smiles softly and looks down at the table. “He asked me if I was sure you were ready, and if I was sure I wanted to take such a big risk. It wasn’t that he disliked the idea, he’s just cautious as I said. He wanted to make sure I was confident you wouldn’t put us at risk.” Even though you know how the conversation must’ve ended up you want to ask. “What did you tell him?” He looks up to meet your eyes. “I told him I trusted you, and that I knew you could handle it. I wouldn’t ask him if I didn’t. After that he just said ‘if you love her then I’m sure we will love her too.’ So don’t worry, you got his blessing.” You exhale a breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding. “The rest know you’re coming too don’t worry. I wanted to make sure there were no surprises.” You nod and think on all he’s said for a moment. “But wait, I thought you said you had seven brothers?”  
He rubs his hands together and nods. “Yes, last are Hongjoong and Mingi. I saved them for last because they are sort of a packaged deal. They are always together. They are the only members of our coven that were not turned by Seonghwa. They started off in another coven somewhere. From what I can tell they were exiled, but I’m not sure why. I don’t know a lot about their past. I think the only one who does is Seonghwa, but he doesn’t talk about it. They are good at heart but they were raised differently than us. They can be violent, and reckless at times. Typically they kind of do their own thing. While they are loyal to us, we don’t always see eye to eye.” You make a mental note to maybe steer clear of them. They sound like they can be trouble, and until you know how to handle them you decide maybe it’s best you stick close to Woo. He’s watching you carefully. Probably trying to determine if you’re going to get cold feet. “How are you feeling?” He asks quietly. His voice is so soft and sweet you naturally feel calmed by it. “Overwhelmed?” You shake your head no. “It’s a lot of information but I think once I can actually see them and meet them and take in the energy it’ll be easier to grasp.” He takes your plates to the sink. “Well then get ready! It’s a bit of a drive to get out there so we should probably start heading that way.”  
You hop up and run off to the bathroom to shower. You crank up the hot water, hoping the steam will help calm your nerves. As you are washing your hair you hear Wooyoung’s voice float in over the sound. “I’m coming in! I’m going to at least comb my hair and stuff. Last thing I need is to walk in there looking rough and get scoffed at by Yeosang.” You giggle at the thought. They really do seem to function like family from the little tidbits you’ve heard. You can’t wait to see what Wooyoung is like when it’s not just you two. You finish and shut off the water, realizing as you do so you forgot to grab a towel from the closet. Just as you open your mouth to say something Woo wordlessly hands you a towel through the curtain, like he already had assumed you’d forget.  
You wrap yourself up and come out to him examining himself in the mirror. He’s moving his hair around trying to figure out what he wants to do with it, but stops when he sees you silently judging him over his shoulder. He raises an eyebrow at you. “Can I help you ma’am?” You smile sweetly and shake your head, heading toward your closet. He stops you. “Oh! No need. I already laid something out for you.” He gestures outside the door to the bed where you can faintly see an outfit waiting for you. You shoot him a questioning look but he ignores you, busying himself with his reflection again. When you reach your bed you check out what he’s chosen. He’s pulled out one of his personal favorites on you, a strapless black dress and combat boot heels. Apparently he wants you dressed up for this. Once Wooyoung is out of your way, you get dressed and do your makeup. You go all out since this will be your first impression. You emerge from the bathroom and Woo is already waiting by the door for you, jacket slung over one shoulder.  
His eyes widen a bit at the sight of you, a bright smile spreading across his face. “You look so beautiful!” He says coming to hug you. He picks you up off the floor and spins you around, causing you to giggle like a child. “Come on let's go.” It’s a gloomy day. It’s been raining all morning, though it’s stopped for the time being. Everything is shiny and wet, and all the colors look brighter amongst the stark lighting and grey backdrop. You hop in his Jeep and off you go, headed north for the weekend. He stops at a gas station and gives you money to buy all your favorite snacks for the ride. It’s a pleasant little road trip. You sing to the radio and eat, laughing all the while, enjoying this time with your best friend. You feel the most yourself when he’s by your side. The drive is three hours, and as you reach that two and a half mark things look drastically different from where you started. The city has disappeared, now transformed into a beautiful forest. As you get closer to your destination things quiet down, a subtle tension in the air.  
You are both nervous as you approach the large gated driveway. He enters a code and it slides open slowly revealing a dark pathway into the forest. You can’t even see a house yet. He senses your unease and takes your hand, offering you a soft smile of reassurance even though you can tell he is also a bit unsure. You follow the road for what seems like forever, until finally a large house comes into view. Upon closer inspection the building looks more like a large barn refurbished into a cabin. It’s beautiful and rustic, matching its woodsy surroundings perfectly. The rain has started again, plunging the late afternoon light into darkness. Wooyoung exits the car first, coming around to open your door for you. He shields you from the rain with his jacket as you both scurry inside. It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the dim yellow light, but what you do see is interesting. There are no real dividing walls, keeping true to the barn looking exterior. The main room seems to have distinct sections, a small living area right in the front, a study of some sort with a couple bookcases on the back wall, to the left is a sort of bar looking area, and the right side is all little living quarters. There is one large bed on the main floor in the dark cutout under the wooden staircase. The first staircase leads to a loft which has three more beds on it, each little cubby kind of sectioned off in some way by the respective owners. Each has a distinct style and you can tell someone sleeps in each one. Then there is a small four step ladder that leads to another loft floor where the other four beds reside you assume. It’s strange because everything is open, but at the same time it’s perfectly divided between its residents. You don’t question where you are or what you’re looking at. The more you look at it the more you love it.


	2. Blood brothers

As you’re looking around a low voice commands your attention. “Wow. Pretty, pretty. I must say Wooyoung I’m impressed.” You look straight ahead to see a man lazily looking up at you from his seat at a table, his bright eyes traveling the length of your body, not in an uncomfortable way, more just taking you in for the first time. You freeze. You can’t even speak. He’s absolutely beautiful. Aside from his captivating eyes he has silvery white hair that just touches his shoulders. You can’t quite get a feel for his height yet but you’d guess a little taller than Wooyoung. Woo smirks at him and tells him not to seem so surprised. The man rises, proving you right, he is a bit taller than Wooyoung. He is wearing a white long sleeve shirt that laces up the front in black ribbon, paired with tight black jeans. He looks like a prince from a storybook. He extends a hand to you courteously. “I’m Yeosang. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He speaks in a very languid and lofty way, almost hypnotizingly. His smile is warm though suggesting to you he is genuine. You return his smile and shake his delicate hand, giving him your name. He resumes his spot at the table and calls out to the others. “Wooyoung’s little girlfriend is here!”  
Suddenly it’s all eyes on you as the rest of Wooyoung’s brothers come out of the woodwork. Just behind Yeosang on the first tier loft you see a rather tall man with pinkish orange hair and kind eyes come to lean against the railing. He smiles and you can’t help but feel warm all over. He’s like a giant puppy. He raises a hand in a silent hello that you kindly return. A little to the side of him you see a face peeking at you from the bed on the far end of the loft. This must be the baby. He looks particularly young in the face, with wide eyes and a curious expression. His dark hair is red at the tips. You hear footsteps coming from the top loft and turn to see a lithe figure hurrying down to meet you. He has dark hair and a very angular face, incredibly handsome just like everyone else in the house. By his enthusiasm you have to assume this is San. He gets to Wooyoung first and warmly embraces him before looking to you in a sort of ‘may I?’ gesture. Wooyoung moves out of his way and he comes to stand before you. He already feels like a friend. “Hello. I’m San. I’ve been so excited to meet you. If you need anything, anything at all don’t be afraid to ask.” You smile and thank him for his kindness as he pulls you into a little hug. “You’re family now. No need to be shy.”  
He smiles again and heads to sit across from Yeosang. “Ah, you’re here!” You turn quickly to see a new man walking towards you from a separate little office area at the front of the house. Just by his demeanor you can tell that it’s Seonghwa. He is tall, with ash blond hair and you can feel that he’s older than the rest just by his energy. He has a tired look about him, like maybe he’s stressed but he doesn’t let it get in the way of his warm welcome. “We’ve been expecting you. Hi, I’m Seonghwa. I’ll just let you know now, you’re more than welcome to anything in the house and if you need anything feel free to ask anyone around. Any friend of Wooyoung’s is a friend of ours.” He shakes your hand and gives you a charming smile. You are beginning to wonder if being beautiful is a requirement for vampirism. You see movement in your periphery and turn to find the only two in the room you haven’t met yet, hongjoong and Mingi. You aren’t sure who is which yet but they are quick to explain. The smaller of the two speaks. He has intelligent eyes and well kept bright blue hair. “Sorry to be the last to meet your acquaintance. I am hongjoong.” He shakes your hand lightly and gestures to the big man behind him. “This is Mingi.” The man gives you a quirky lopsided smile and a wave from over hongjoong’s shoulder as he continues. “We tend to be in and out but I’m glad we were here for your arrival.” He turns and begins to head back to the bar booth he and Mingi had been previously seated at, calling over his shoulder “Don’t be a stranger.”  
You feel Wooyoung’s hand at the small of your back, steering you back to have a seat with the rest. The tall guy from earlier who must be Yunho has made his way down to the little seating area now too, giving you a shy smile as you come to sit beside him. Wooyoung was right, they all look to be around twenty but you can definitely feel the sense of deeper wisdom the older ones hold. Seonghwa comes to stand before you, leaning back against another small table. “Are you hungry? Is there anything we can get you? I can have someone run into town and get you something if you want.” Wooyoung starts to stop him. “I can take care of that, you guys don’t have to go out of your way—” Seonghwa holds up a hand, silencing him but not unkindly. “It’s no problem really Wooyoung. You’ve been driving all day.” He turns to you letting you make the decision. “Honestly I am kind of hungry.” You reply sheepishly, throwing a glance at Wooyoung. “Well that settles it then. Anything in particular you’d like?” Before you can even answer, Wooyoung perfectly rattles off your favorite food order all the way down to the extra sauce. You feel your heart flutter a little. He really does know you better than anyone. Sometimes you forget just how completely he knows you. You feel Yunho shift beside you. “I can go! I haven’t left the house all day. I could use the air.” Seonghwa nods and Yunho goes to retrieve his keys. He raises them up and looks to the back of the room at the youngest. “Jongho, you coming?” He nods and hurries up to meet him at the front door. Yunho turns to you and assures you they’ll be back and off they go.  
As the rest disperse, Wooyoung offers to show you around a little. He explains that the front office is Seonghwa’s. He leads you over to the bar area where there are several tables and a whole wall of any alcohol you could ever imagine. He takes you back around to the little library in the back. There are two big plush chairs back there and a cozy little fire place. You think this is going to be your favorite room. He explains the bed on the ground floor is seonghwa’s. He brings you up to the second loft and points out yeosang, Yunho, and jongho’s rooms respectively. Then he brings you to the top loft. It’s a lot darker up here and it strangely feels separate from the rest of the house. These three rooms are bigger, the third one at the end being the biggest. He points at a curtain that seems to be partitioning that room, “hongjoong and Mingi share that one, that’s why it’s so big. And then this one next to it is San.. and this one right when you get up the stairs is mine.” His set up is rather simple. He has a large black bed with a million pillows on it, and black canopy. Up inside the canopy are some soft white Christmas lights that add to the atmosphere. It’s simple but beautiful. You take a seat on his bed, looking up into the lights. “I forgot to warn you, sleeping is pretty communal here. I can crash with San if you’d like some space to yourself.” You quickly shake your head. “No, I’m not going to kick you out of your room. We share beds all the time, why is this different?” He smiles and takes a seat next to you. “If we sleep together, the rest are going to tease us about it relentlessly. If you’re good with it I’m good with it, I just didn’t want to put you in a potentially embarrassing situation.” You shrug. “Let them laugh. They are just jealous they’re sleeping alone. Or.. I guess not hongjoong and Mingi.” You both dissolve into giggles falling back on the bed.  
You turn to look at him. You can see his eyes are starting to get dark, the way they do when he needs to feed. You reach out and touch his face gently, moving his hair out of his eyes. “You should eat too.” You say softly, a look of concern clouding your eyes. He shakes his head, stubborn as always. “Nah, I’m good.” You shake your head back and sit up. “I can see your eyes Wooyoung. I know it’s feed time.” He sighs. “I’m going to stick it out until after we get back.” Sometimes you really don’t understand this boy. “Why? Isn’t there someone here you could go with? I’m sure you aren’t the only one who’s due for a feed. Have someone go with you.” Apparently San had been eavesdropping. He pops his head in, “Actually we were all going to go out tomorrow aside from Jongho. Yunho took him out yesterday and let him hunt an elk just in case he ever needs to… but yeah you are more than welcome to come with us woo.” Wooyoung looks between you and San for a moment, clearly annoyed at being ganged up on. “I guess I could go. I don’t know how long we will be out though.” He looks at you worriedly. “Are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself? I feel bad bringing you up here and just leaving you.” You shake your head. “I’ll be fine! Besides you said Jongho will be here right? Maybe I’ll make a friend.” He smiles and nods, earning an even bigger smile from San. “See? Sometimes he just takes a little extra convincing.” Wooyoung swats at San who laughs and jumps backwards to dodge him.  
You hear heavy footsteps on the stairs and everyone turns to see who’s coming. You are happy to find it’s Yunho with your food. “Here you are, your extra sauce is in the bag and I may have stolen one of your fries.” You laugh and tell him that’s okay, he’s earned it for going to get it for you. San follows him back down and it’s just you and Wooyoung again as you hungrily blow through your food much to his amusement. The rest of the night is pretty quiet, just conversation with Wooyoung and San for the most part. You can’t help but get sleepy fast since you had a late night and an early morning. The food coma is finally setting in and you can see Wooyoung is starting to lose steam as well. When he runs downstairs to grab your things from the living room before you both go to bed, San pops in. “He loves you. You know that right?” You look at him a little shocked by the sudden statement. Before you can argue he speaks again. “He wouldn’t bring you here if he didn’t. Trust me.” With a smile and a wink he disappears to his room just as Wooyoung arrives with your bags. He draws the curtains around the bed, leaving you in your own little world away from the rest. You can’t help but think about it as you snuggle up with him for the night. What if it’s true? What if this whole time you’ve been sitting around pining over him he’s been doing the same thing? You try not to entertain the thought too much. If San is wrong there is nothing to get excited about. Besides, if wooyoung had feelings for you he’d definitely tell you, right?


	3. The hunt

The next morning you wake to the smell of a giant breakfast burrito being waved around in your face. “Good morning beautiful. I figured I should make sure I feed you before I go feed myself.” You hadn’t even felt him leave. You rub your eyes and take the burrito, stomach already growling. You reach out and give Wooyoung a clingy hug. He thinks you’re cute in the mornings and likes to baby you. You sit back and start to open your burrito as he plants a quick kiss on your forehead. “If you want to say bye to everyone we are going to have a little meeting before we go.” He says as he heads down the stairs. You imagine you look like shit but there aren’t any mirrors up here so before you can scare yourself out of it you straighten yourself up as best you can and follow after Wooyoung. When you reach the bottom floor everyone immediately looks to you. Of course. You sheepishly wave and find a seat at one of the tables trying not to make too much eye contact with anyone. You get greetings from every direction, a polite hello from Seonghwa, a very suggestive sleep good last night? From hongjoong which Mingi laughed at, Yeosang just said ‘cute’ when he saw you, and Yunho gives you a back hug while simultaneously stealing a bite of your burrito. You look up as you sit and meet eyes with San who just gives you a sweet smile and a wink. You hear some rustling around behind you and are surprised to see it’s Jongho.   
He hasn’t really interacted with you yet. “Hi.” He says with a little wave. “Do you mind if I sit back here with you?” You shake your head and give him the kindest smile you can muster. You want him to feel as welcome around you as possible. He seems rather shy and soft spoken and you would really like to be friends. Just then Seonghwa speaks and a hush comes over the room. “So listen up this is going to be a little different than we are used to. There’s another coven in town so as a precaution we are going to have to actually hunt for our food today.” Yunho turns and looks at Jongho, whispering under his breath. “I told you so.” Jongho rolls his eyes. You wonder what that was about. Seonghwa continues, “ I think it will be safer if we don’t wander off alone. Hongjoong and Mingi, you’re hunting buddies. Big shocker there.” A few snickers can be heard amongst the boys. “Wooyoung and San can go together. Yeosang, Yunho and I will go as a group. Sounds good to everybody?” Everyone nods in agreement. “Okay, then grab what you need and we’ll get going.” Wooyoung cuts in to ask a question. “Do we have designated spots or..?” Seonghwa shakes his head and Wooyoung seems to understand. You on the other hand feel like they are speaking gibberish. Jongho must notice because he clarifies for you. “Sometimes Seonghwa will give everyone a specific territory so he knows where we’re at.” You nod and offer him a bite of your burrito which he politely declines. Everyone splits into their groups and talks amongst themselves probably getting together a plan of attack.   
When they are done Wooyoung and San come over to say goodbye. Woo Crouches in front of you so you are eyelevel. “You sure you’re going to be okay? I can stay back if you want.” You shake your head and wave him off. “Go kill some shit I’ll be fine.” He rolls his eyes and smiles. San is watching the two of you expectantly like he’s waiting for some kind of indication you love each other. Wooyoung gives it to him when he kisses the top of your head again before addressing Jongho. “If anything happens, you know how to get a hold of me right?” Jongho nods. There is unspoken understanding in their eye contact. Wooyoung turns to leave and San gives you a dazzling smile and a hug. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep him out of trouble.” You smile and wave as they head out the door, followed by Yeosang and Seonghwa. Yunho runs back just to say something to Jongho you can’t make out and then follows. Mingi and hongjoong are the last to leave, taking their time scheming. Now it’s just you and Jongho.  
“Do you know where they’ll go?” You ask him, just hoping to start a conversation. With everyone gone he seems to relax a bit. “Well I can’t say for sure, but I know some have favorite spots. For example, San is partial to the falls. There are these big waterfalls way up the mountain where the animals like to hang out during the day. Yunho has this pond he likes to hunt around…. I have no idea where hongjoong and Mingi go. They always disappear and no one ever finds them.” He pauses for a moment. “You’d like the falls. It’s really pretty up there. Maybe you can ask Wooyoung to take you tomorrow.” You like that idea. “So, everyone here thinks Wooyoung and I are dating huh?” He chuckles. “Yup. I personally try not to speculate, but yeah that’s the general consensus. If it makes you feel any better, Yunho and Yeosang think you guys are really cute together.” You blush knowing the others have been talking about you. Jongho continues. It’s funny, you didn’t take him for the talkative type but maybe he just thrives in a more one on one type of environment. “Sans theory is that you both love each other and don’t want to admit it or don’t want the other to know. He was trying to get answers out of Wooyoung this morning but woo wouldn’t budge.” Interesting. “So what do you think?” He pauses to think and then busies himself picking at some strings on his jacket. “As I said I try not to speculate. Clearly you’re important to him. That much I know. If you guys want to be together, great. If you are just friends, to me that’s just as good. I like you, and he’s my brother. Whatever makes you guys happy is what I support.” That makes you smile.   
You decide to change the subject. “You and Yunho seem to be close.” He nods. “Yeah, he’s sort of taken me under his wing recently. I’m not really sure why, but I’m grateful just the same. He’s taught me a lot.” He gets up and moves toward the library, beckoning you to join him. He plops into one of the big comfy chairs and smiles. “These are way more comfortable than over there.” You settle into the one across from him. “Anyways, typically one of the older ones will help teach when a new person is added to the coven. Yunho taught Yeosang and also is teaching me. Seonghwa taught Wooyoung and San. From what I can tell hongjoong and mingi have always kept to themselves.” You're glad he brought them up because you are curious. “What’s with those two anyway? They seem so different.” Jongho nods. “I probably don’t know much more than you. All I know is they came from somewhere else and from the sounds of it, it was bad. I’m not even sure how Seonghwa ran into them. I tried to ask Seonghwa about it but he has this rule.” You aren’t sure what he means. “A rule?” He holds up a finger and disappears over into the bar area and re-emerges with two cups of hot tea. He hands one to you and resumes his seat across from you. “He has a thing about telling stories that he says aren’t his to tell. He says if you seek information on someone it’s best to learn it from them directly.” You nod and sip your tea. “Thank you, by the way for the tea.” He nods. “Seonghwa sounds very wise.” Jongho agrees.   
“Are you willing to share your story with me?” You ask. You hope you haven’t stepped over a line, but Jongho doesn’t seem bothered. “Sure. I had cancer. I was dying, and Seonghwa overheard my parents talking about me in a coffee shop. I was doing very poorly and my mom was having a hard time with it. Seonghwa offered my parents a way to save me. He told them he couldn’t tell them how, but if they wanted to save me he could. They agreed. I knew nothing of this until the day I assume I was supposed to die. I was in and out of consciousness but I remember him coming to me and saying not to be afraid and that he would save me… I think I may have died then. But then he did whatever he had to do to turn me. When he was done he told my parents he needed to take me with him so I could heal, and he brought me here. I guess I was out for three days. No one was sure if I’d make it or not. Then I just woke up. I was confused and terrified when I woke up surrounded by people I had never seen, but then I saw Seonghwa and I knew I was supposed to be here. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know the ritual. I’ve never performed it or even seen it but whatever it does is a miracle.” You sit in awe for a minute. Wooyoung told you a little but it’s different hearing a first hand account. “Did you ever see your parents again?” You ask. He smiles and nods. “I see them at least once a month. Obviously they can’t know what I am, but I still see them when I can.” It makes your heart happy that he still gets to see his family.   
“Have you talked to Wooyoung about all this stuff?” He asks as he finishes up his tea. “I know a little bit. He told me about the ritual and some things about what you guys are.” He shakes his head. “No but I mean has he told you anything about him turning and stuff?” You shake your head. You actually don’t know much about Wooyoung’s history at all. “Honestly, he didn’t even officially explain to me what you guys were until just before we came here.” You pause, now realizing that maybe you don’t know as much about Wooyoung as you feel like you do. Maybe you don’t know him at all. Jongho can sense the change in your energy and is quick to reassure you. “I’m sure he was just trying to protect you. I know that sounds stupid but you have to understand that what we are can be really difficult for people to grasp. Not everyone is so accepting. I think he grew to care about you and didn’t want to get into it until he was sure you were ready. When we put ourselves out there like that it’s a really vulnerable place. We are powerless in that conversation. Once you open that door with someone you are making yourself vulnerable to whatever reaction they might have to it. So him having that conversation with you, and then bringing you here and immersing you in what we are, is a really big step. Just give it time. I’m sure if you asked about it he would tell you whatever you wanted to know.” There’s something about Jongho that is so comforting. He has this way about him that makes you feel like everything is going to be alright. You can already tell he is going to be a good friend to you.   
You spend hours like that, just talking, and you are starting to feel really at home here. You are startled when the barn door bursts open, revealing a silhouetted figure in the sunlight. “First ones back! Record time.” Yeosang comes sauntering in from outside, his formerly pristine white outfit now stained in swirls of black earth and blood. Seonghwa and Yunho follow just behind, both smiling and looking at ease. It’s nice to see them fresh off a feed, all bright eyed and adrenalized. “So where’d you guys go?” Jongho asks, rising from his seat to join the others. “We actually were right here close to home.” Seonghwa says pointing to the east wall of the house. “We got lucky. As we were leaving Yunho caught the scent of a few deer over on the other side of those cliffs right there.”   
This seems to surprise Jongho. “No shit? How come every time I have to go out there’s not an animal within a hundred miles?” Yunho laughs and playfully pushes him. “I’d say a hundred miles is a bit dramatic. Maybe like.. fifty.” Yeosang laughs, and you think you hear Seonghwa chuckle from the bar as he pours his little hunting party some scotch. He somehow expertly holds all three glasses in one hand, bringing the pretty crystal decanter with him in the other.   
He hands out the drinks and takes a sip of his own before having a realization and turning to you. “Oh how rude. I’m sorry, would you like some? I can go get another glass.” You decide this might be a good opportunity to do some bonding with Wooyoung’s brothers. You are sure he will be surprised to come home and find you sharing drinks with them. “You know what? Yeah, I’ll take some of that. I’m not normally a scotch drinker but what the hell.” Seonghwa smiles as he hops up to go fetch you a glass and some ice. “That’s because you’ve never had the good stuff.” He says, winking at you before disappearing behind the bar again. Yeosang looks surprised but impressed as you confidently take a seat next to him at the front table. Yunho and Jongho are seated at the one behind you. Seonghwa returns and pours you a drink, then decides to make a little toast. He raises his glass and the rest of you follow. “To a successful hunt, and our new sister!” He looks to you as he says it and you can feel yourself swell with happiness. “We are so happy to have you here. I’m glad Wooyoung has someone like you to take care of him.” Everyone drinks and Jongho cheers for you. “What’s the matter Jongho? Too cool to drink with me?” You ask when you realize he’s the only one without a drink in his hand. He smiles and shakes his head. “I’ll stick to my tea, thanks.” Yeosang chimes in from your other side. “He doesn’t drink. I’ve tried many times but he won’t cave.” You nod thoughtfully and tip your glass to the maknae. “I respect that.”   
Seonghwa was right, the scotch is good. You are tipsy in no time. The rest, clearly having a higher tolerance than you, seem to be thoroughly amused with your warm happy giggliness that the alcohol brings on. “So I have a question.” You say to no one in particular. “How do you guys get money? Wooyoung literally pays for my entire apartment and I’ve never heard him mention a job.” Seonghwa decides to take this one on. “Ah, well some of that has to do with me. I’ve been around a long time. When you’ve lived as many life times as I have you tend to accumulate wealth. You’ll notice we don’t really have much as far as individual possessions. None of us really pay any bills besides phones. I did all the renovations on this place myself like a century ago so we all just sort of accumulate our wealth, and pool it together. We get it from all sorts of places, sometimes we work odd jobs, we’ve all had inheritances, things of that nature. So naturally it’s piled up.” He moves to pour you another drink but you stop him deciding you’ve had enough. “Also, Seonghwa is pretty good with investments and such.” Yunho adds. This makes sense. It’s kind of cool how they all just contribute to each other that way. You notice the sliver of light coming through the bottom of the door is looking more orange than white. You haven’t checked the time in a while.   
Your phone reads 5:34. A tiny stab of panic slices through you as you realize how late it is. “It’s getting kind of late yeah? Shouldn’t the other guys be back by now?” Yeosang sneaks a peek at your phone and then looks back at the door. “I wouldn’t start to get worried until it gets dark.” Seonghwa says putting your mind at ease. “When it’s hotter during the day, a lot of times all the game moves further north where it’s cooler. Then when it starts to cool off at around dusk they come back down the mountain. If they were having trouble finding anything, they might be waiting for when they come down.” You nod, feeling more assured with Seonghwa's logical explanation. “Sorry.” You say sheepishly. You feel like someone’s crazy girlfriend. Your face burns red when you think about how you must sound. Yunho puts a hand on your shoulder. “You’re worried about him. Nothing wrong with that. I’m sure he’s fine.” You give him a smile of thanks. Hours pass. It’s now dark, only a ghost of the sunset on the horizon, and still no one else has made it home. The others have all done their best to try and distract you, but you can tell that at this point even a few of them are beginning to feel uneasy. Seonghwa said that there’s a good chance hongjoong and Mingi won’t return until tomorrow. Apparently it’s pretty on brand for them to disappear. It’s still early nighttime, so it’s not out of the question for San and woo to still be out, or that’s what you’re telling yourself anyway.


	4. Missing

It’s getting later and you’ve grown tired of waiting. You march downstairs and drop in on Jongho, who’s reading a book on his bed. “He said you could get a hold of him.” At first he looks confused but then he remembers his words with Wooyoung earlier. “I can..” He says cautiously. “We share blood. That links us. All of us that are connected to Seonghwa can communicate through blood. We should talk to Seonghwa first. Since he’s where the link originated from he will have the strongest connection to them.” He rises, a look of determination on his face. “Come on.” He leads you into seonghwa’s office where he is pacing around, clearly anxious. “You should try to contact them.” Jongho pleads. “We have to at least know if they're okay.” Seonghwa gives him a long look, then a curt nod, clearing his desk and bringing out a bunch of strange objects. He puts out a small metal dish, a talisman with some cryptic symbol on it, and several vials with different substances in them. He half glances up at you. “This is going to get a little weird, if you’re squeamish I’d leave now.” You stay defiantly in your spot. He begins to murmur under his breath and he diligently arranges ingredients in the dish. First some type of herb and what appears to be black sand,a tuft of hair, some lavender, then he raises the red candle flickering next to him on the desk and drips some wax over it. He raises a letter opener to his hand and slices across his palm, some of the blood making its way down his forearm. He lowers his cut hand down into the dish, mixing all of the ingredients together by blood. The mixture hisses and sizzles, startling you. His eyes go white, and you can tell he’s no longer with you for the moment. His brow furrows and he looks to be struggling with something but you can’t imagine what. He comes back to consciousness with a gasp.   
“Damn it.” He whispers. He stares hard at the desk, you can tell he’s trying to think of some solution to whatever problem he’s having. Before you can ask, he speaks. “I tried to channel into woo, but I can’t. The connection is too weak.” You still aren’t sure what that means. “So Wait, can you see them? Is that what the spell does?” He looks up at you now still a little out of breath. “Not exactly. We can feel each other through our shared blood. The reason my connection to them is stronger is because it is my blood we all share. The herbs and flowers all correspond to a person, it has to do with the turning ritual. Wooyoung is lavender. That’s how I lock on to him specifically. The ritual will basically tell me what Wooyoung’s status is, both emotionally and physically. I managed to reach him but… the connection was weak. That can mean a number of things, but none of them are good.” Jongho cuts him off before he can elaborate. “Try San. San should be with him. Maybe if you can get to San it’ll give you a better idea.” He nods and pulls up another dish. He performs the ritual again, this time with a different herb, and some rose petals. When he comes back to consciousness, he looks even more grim.   
“San seems to be okay, but he’s shaken. He also didn’t respond to my calling.” He turns to you and continues. “They can feel when I access them. They know I’m there. What has me concerned is that neither of them acknowledged my presence. San is physically fine. He’s scared. I’m not sure what that means. Nothing good. As far as Wooyoung I can’t quite tell what’s going on. I don’t know if he’s hurt or captured or what but something is dulling my access to him.” Jongho looks like he grasps that concept more than you do. He remains positive though. “Maybe they are still headed here. If San is fine there is still a chance they can make it back here.” Seonghwa nods and gives a strained smile. “That’s true. We can’t rule anything out yet. I guess for now all we can do is wait.”   
You have grown too anxious to be of any pleasant company so you’ve retired to Wooyoung’s bed, curtains drawn, just waiting. You practically launch yourself down the stairs when you hear the barn door open, and you can see everyone else visibly holding their breath. When you see a shock of blue hair your heart instantly drops. It’s hongjoong and Mingi. They come in all nonchalant, oblivious to everyone’s silent panic. They ditch some of their gear and fiddle with their packs for a few minutes before realizing the suffocating quiet of the room. Mingi looks up, glancing from face to face in confusion. “Why are you all acting so weird?” Seonghwa breaks the silence. “Have you heard anything from San or Wooyoung?” As hongjoong looks around you see his eyes widen in understanding. “They aren’t back yet?” Seonghwa solemnly shakes his head. “No, we haven’t seen them since we left. I know they headed north, I figured they were heading to the falls. Did anyone else see them today?” The other three shook their heads, explaining that they had stayed close to home. Hongjoongs eyes flit to you and you can see a flicker of pity cross his face. “Should we go look for them?” Mingi speaks up. “Has anyone tried to make contact?” Hongjoong asks looking around at the faces in the room. Seonghwa raises his hand. “I tried both of them. I couldn’t get a clear read on woo but San seemed okay. What has me concerned is I got no response from either of them.” Hongjoong looks puzzled and thinks on that for a moment, clearly weighing their options.   
He looks at Mingi and the two share a silent conversation before Mingi straightens up and runs to put the packs away. “We’ll look around for them. I can’t imagine they are that far away, there would be no reason for them to wander off.” Seonghwa starts to say something but hongjoong cuts him off. “We have to at least see if we can find any traces of them. They could be hurt, they could be captured, sun sickness, this could mean anything.” Seonghwa nods and as they walk out the door Mingi tells everyone they will call if they find anything. You look to Seonghwa. “What is sun sickness?” He sighs. “While we can stand sunlight to a point it’s not actually good for us. The longer we are exposed, the more it affects us and it can make us very sick. That’s why during the day we try to spend as little time in direct sunlight as possible. You’ve probably never noticed with Wooyoung because you are constantly in and out. From the house to the car, from the car to a restaurant, even when you are outside he probably sticks to the shade but that isn’t uncommon because no one just stands in direct sunlight you know?” That makes a lot of sense. It’s insane that this whole time you had no idea the sun could make Wooyoung sick. He walks over and pulls you into a tight hug. “They will find them. I’ve never met better trackers. Hongjoong and Mingi are more skilled than you know, and they care more than they show. We will find them.”   
You hug him even tighter, just needing to feel something other than dread. Yeosang waves you over and offers you the seat next to him. When you sit down he takes your hand in his. “He's okay. I promise you he’s okay.” You look at him, tears hanging heavy in your eyes. “You can’t promise me that.” The silence that follows seems to stretch for hours even though it’s probably only around twenty minutes before Seonghwa gets a call. Everyone is on the edge of their seat listening as he puts it on speaker.   
“What did you find?”  
“We’re up by the falls… it doesn’t look good.”  
“What does that mean? What did you find?”   
“Hwa…. there’s a lot of blood.”   
Seonghwa stays silent and you can see the color drain from his face.   
“There are some scraps of someone’s shirt here… do we know what they were wearing?”  
You speak up. “Woo was in a white shirt and black pants. San I think was wearing navy blue…”  
“Alright the shirt’s gotta be Wooyoung’s. I can’t tell who’s blood it is or if it’s even theirs I really don't know. We will look around and see if we can make out a trail they took or anything. If we find more we will let you know.” 

Seonghwa hangs up and you can feel the weight of what everyone is thinking. The blood. You know it could be anything, but you also know that means it could be him. You stand wordlessly and head back to Wooyoung’s bed. Yeosang and Yunho watch you carefully as you ascend. Tears sting at your eyes but you don’t want to panic yet. So you sit, curtains drawn, in numb silence. Waiting. Waiting for what? Good news? Bad news? The worst news? You aren’t sure. You hear your name from the other side of the curtain but you don’t have the energy to respond. Cautiously, Yunho peeks in, his face colored with concern. He sits at the edge of the bed and for a moment doesn’t say anything. His big puppy dog eyes just watch you, searching. “Are you Okay?” He asks quietly. And that’s all it takes. The tears that have been threatening your eyes all night come all at once and you feel like you have no choice but to break down. Luckily, he is there to catch you. He climbs further up the bed, pulling you close to him, giving you a place to fall apart. He holds you while you cry it out, just stroking your hair and telling you that it’s okay.   
When the worst of it is over, you both just lay there in a heavy but comfortable silence. “He’s in trouble.” You feel yourself say. You can feel him nod in agreement but he chooses not to say anything further. “What if… what if I lose him?” The tears start again and he squeezes you tight as he whispers, “you are not going to lose him. He’s not going anywhere. San will take care of him. They will come back to us.” You turn to look into his face, eyes still swimming with tears. “I can’t lose him.” He doesn’t know what more he can do so he hugs you tight and keeps reassuring you that everything will be alright. You don’t know how much time passes. Every moment that you spend not knowing where he is stretches on like an eternity. Eventually you have a second visitor in your little sanctuary. You are almost asleep when you hear Yeosang’s voice. “How is she?” Yunho shifts a little, careful not to wake you. “She’s scared. At this point I can’t blame her. I think we all are.” Yeosang nods and you feel him reach out and touch your leg. You open your eyes to his kind face watching you carefully. “Hi sweetheart. I can’t sleep so I wanted to check on you. Are you doing okay?” He knows that you’re not but you appreciate his concern so much. “Yunho is taking care of me. It’s going to be a long night.” He nods, face solemn. “They are going to come home. We’ll find them.” He can see the doubt written across your face and moves in closer, taking both your hands. “Look, I know Wooyoung. He’s going to be okay. What ever happened to them you know he isn’t going down without a fight. He’s annoying like that. He will live forever. He’s a damn cockroach.” You can’t help but laugh. He gives you a hug. “Hang in there. We will look for them some more in the morning. Try to get some rest.” You nod, and resume your spot against Yunho’s chest.   
A few minutes after Yeosang leaves, Yunho speaks again. “You really do love him huh?” You nod. “Why haven’t you told him?” You shift so you can look up at him. “I guess I just didn’t want to risk scaring him away.” He sits with that answer for a little while before continuing. “I think you should tell him.” You both eventually fall asleep, though you are plagued by nightmares. You wake first in the morning and head down stairs. All is still quiet for the most part. You find Jongho in the library, snuggled in one of the comfy chairs with some hot tea. You get some for yourself and join him. You can tell by the way he studies your face it’s probably still evident you’ve been crying. “Heard anything?” He shakes his head, eyes fixated on the glow of the fireplace. “Seonghwa was up all night with Joong and Mingi trying to figure out how to find them. I think they are going back out soon.” You decide to go check with Seonghwa. He is in his office gathering some things, dressed like he’s going somewhere. “Do you have a plan?” You ask looking over a map he has out on the desk. He points to a section he’s highlighted. “The red x is where they found the blood. I want to see the scene for myself. Then we are going to comb through that whole northern sector. I tried to contact San again. He acknowledged me this time which means I think he’s okay but he still didn’t offer me any insight. I just hope they didn’t get separated.” You agree, still looking over the map. “Can I do something? Is there any way I can help?” He sighs and places a hand on your shoulder. The best thing you can do is stay here. If they did get separated, Wooyoung will do whatever he can to try and make it back here. You should be here in case he does.” While that wasn’t the answer you were looking for, you suppose he’s right.   
Hongjoong and Mingi approach from behind you. “Ready to go?” Seonghwa nods and they start for the door. Hongjoong stops as he passes you. “We will find them. Keep your head up.” He offers you a small smile and follows the others outside. Back to the waiting game. You contemplate going back to sleep. You know you should rest and that it’s doing you no good to just sit around hoping. You head back up just as Yunho is getting out of bed. “Any news?” You shake your head. “Nope. I’m actually going back to bed, I didn’t sleep well.” He understands. “None of us did.” He gives you a quick hug and starts to head down stairs. “If anything changes I’ll let you know.” You stop him just before he can disappear. “Yunho! Thanks for staying with me last night.” He smiles but instead of really answering he just says ‘sweet dreams’ and descends. It doesn’t take you long to fall asleep this time. All the worrying has made you exhausted. Meanwhile downstairs Yeosang sits in his usual spot, Yunho beside him. Jongho is still in the library. All is quiet until the barn door is wrenched open.


	5. Mauled

Yeosang flinches and squints into the light, trying to identify the figure. Yunho automatically jumps to his feet, survival instincts kicking in. The door closes halfway. It’s San. He’s covered in blood, panting, and out of breath. The first words out of his mouth are “he’s okay. He’s okay. He’s still weak but he’s healing. Please don’t freak out. He doesn’t want to make a scene.” Everyone is shocked into silence unsure what he’s talking about or what to even say. San steps out again and returns with a haggard looking Wooyoung on his arm. Jongho gasps at the sight of him. His shirt has been dismantled and tied around massive deep wounds that cover from his right shoulder, down his chest. He too is soaked in blood, though they can tell he’s no longer actively bleeding. He can’t even walk, San basically dragging him across the floor to lay him on top of one of the tables. “Holy shit San what the fuck happened?” Yunho asks, immediately hurrying to assess Wooyoung’s injuries. Before San can speak Wooyoung feebly lifts a hand. “Where is she?” He barely gets the words out. It takes all his strength to do it. “She’s asleep, upstairs. Do you want me to wake her?” Yeosang asks, to which he furiously shakes his head no. “I don’t want her to see me like this. Jongho can you make sure she stays up there until I look a little better?” He nods and heads up to where you are sleeping upstairs.  
He peeks in the curtains to find you still very much asleep. He decides to pull up a chair and stand guard in case you try to venture downstairs. He listens in on the conversations below while he waits. “It was a fucking bear.” He hears Wooyoung croak out while they are trying to find something for his pain. San begins to explain. “We were headed out to the falls, as we were headed up the mountain we caught the scent of a few cow elk over this ridge. Woo went to go check it out and see if they were close or not…” Wooyoung starts to speak now. “When I got up there I headed down this little slope to get a better look around… there was a bear up there….Huge female, with cubs…. didn’t even see her coming…” he hears a strangled sound of pain, probably Yunho cleaning out the wounds. Now that San has had a moment to calm down you can hear tears in his voice. “She got him from behind. I was too late. I came over the hill and she was already taking off with the cubs and he was just lying there. There was so much blood…” he hears Yunho murmur something about needing some gauze. “So what did you do? Where did you guys go?” San continues, getting a better hold on himself. “I tore up his shirt since it was pretty shredded anyway and did what I could to stop the bleeding. I carried him up the mountain, all the way to the falls. There’s a cave back there behind the water and I took him there, thinking he would just heal. And he was healing, but it was really slow. We never got to actually hunt so he was already weaker than normal when it happened. I gave him some of mine to try and speed the process but I can only give so much you know? I wanted to call someone for help but he told me not to because he didn’t want to scare her. So we waited it out overnight. Seonghwa tried to reach us… he knew if I let him know anything he’d tell her and he was scared she’d come after us.”  
There was some shuffling around and some more agonizing sounds and then he heard Yeosang speak up. “We need to get him some blood. He’s running on empty, that’s why he’s healing so slow. Even just a little would speed this up enough to get him out of the woods.” Yunho agrees and Yeosang leaves to find a blood source. Things quiet down. Jongho hears you shift around in your sleep a few times and gets nervous but you never wake, thank god. He knows you’d be traumatized by what’s down there. Yeosang manages to catch a couple squirrels and they feed Wooyoung as much as he’ll take. They move Wooyoung to the couch so he can rest and hopefully heal a little better. San calls Seonghwa and tells him what happened. That means the rest will be here soon. Jongho is getting a little restless so he heads down to check on woo. He’s still covered in blood but the wounds are already beginning to fill themselves in, his regenerative properties reactivated by the blood. He could’ve died out there. When Seonghwa gets back he checks out Wooyoung’s wounds again. You can see that even he is a bit squeamish given the severity of his injuries. The deep tears in his flesh have pulled themselves back together, bright pink new skin forming in their place. He is still pretty weak but when he wakes up he wants to change and shower the rest of the blood off of him.  
You wake suddenly, sitting straight up. How long were you asleep? You hop out of bed and start to run down the stairs but stop cold when you see him standing in front of you. His clothes, hair, and skin are stained with blood. Almost all of his upper right side is covered in red, angry new skin. You can see where he was previously bandaged due to the lines of dried bloodstains. He freezes in place just looking at you, unsure what you are going to do. No one else has seen you yet. You don’t even think. You don’t even know how you make it down the two flights of stairs, but the second you reach him, you kiss him with everything you’ve got. He freezes for just a fraction of a second but kisses you back just as fiercely, one arm around your waist pulling you in and his other hand in your hair. Everyone in the room has frozen. No one knows quite what to do, but Yunho can’t help but smile. The tears have started again but this time out of relief. When you break apart you immediately start scolding him. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again! Do you know how terrified I was that you— what happened to you? What is all this?” You ask, gesturing at the bright scarring on his chest. “It was a bear. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I know you were probably so scared but I didn’t know what else to do.” Before he can even begin to try and explain anything further you cut him off. “A bear? What the fuck Wooyoung how do you get attacked by a fucking bear?” He sighs. “We can talk about it later..” He pulls you into a tight hug murmuring over and over into your hair that he’s sorry while you let the rest of your tears out. He holds you there for a long time, and everyone else just lets you have your moment. No one tries to interfere or interrupt, they just continue with their business around you.  
Eventually you decide it’s okay to let go of him, feeling confident he won’t just disappear in front of your eyes. He tells you he will be right back and heads off to shower away the remaining blood. The second he’s gone, Yeosang looks at you and smirks. “See? What’d I tell you? Cockroach.” You laugh for the first time in what seems like forever. It feels so good to be able to smile, to be able to breathe again. You realize you haven’t seen San yet and for a moment you panic thinking maybe he didn’t return. Seonghwa informs you he’s up stairs so you go to see if he’s okay. You find him just sitting on his bed in the darkness, staring down at the floor. You knock softly at a beam coming down from the ceiling to alert him to your presence. He doesn’t even look up. “Hey Sannie, how are you doing?” You speak softly, unsure of what his reaction will be. He shrugs, clearly upset about something. “I’m sorry.” He says softly. You immediately reach out a hand to take his. “No, San you don’t have to apologize.” He shakes his head. “I told you I’d keep him out of trouble.” You pause for a moment, deciding how best to handle this. “Well.. that is true. You definitely failed there. Pretty sure getting mauled by a bear counts as trouble.”  
As much as you can see he doesn’t want to he laughs, looking up at you and shaking his head. “San, you saved him. If you hadn’t been there he would never have made it home. I should be thanking you.” He leans back, staring up at the ceiling for a minute. “I almost lost him up there.” You shiver just at the sound of the words. “When we got to the top of the mountain…. he was basically dead. I think he lost the majority of his blood volume down in that ravine. He was unresponsive. I thought I’d already lost him. I panicked. I knew the only chance I’d have at saving him was getting him to take some of my blood, but it wouldn’t work if he was dead. I cut my wrist with a tree branch..” He unwraps his wrist to show you the remaining scar on his wrist, just a thin white line in comparison with the jagged wound you imagine was there before. “I had to basically force it down his throat because he wasn’t conscious. And then I prayed.” You turn him to face you and pull him into an embrace. “And you saved him. He’s alive. You’re both alive, and you’re home, and I couldn’t be more grateful for everything you did out there.” You can see the trauma of the past couple days wearing on his face. You rise from the bed and tell him to get some rest.  
You start to head back downstairs but run into Wooyoung halfway up. He looks exhausted. He has huge black circles under his eyes, he’s pale from blood loss, his new skin looks less angry but still painful. Frankly, he’s seen better days. He smiles at you though. At least that’s the same. That smile could light up a room. He grabs your wrist stopping you. “Come lay with me? I’m tired.” He makes a pathetic pouty face at you and you can’t help but giggle. He leads you to the bed and you close the curtains around you, bathing you both in darkness, aside from the twinkly lights in the canopy. You try to give him some space, he looks like he’s got to still be in pain. He’s scuffed and scratched everywhere. He doesn’t want space though. He lays back against the pillows and pulls you down to lay on his chest. The sound of his heart beat hits harder than before. “I almost lost you last night didn’t I?” He nods and holds you closer, tracing familiar patterns down your arms with his fingers. You both stay like that for a long time. Just savoring the proximity. Reality hangs heavily over you both. The last time you felt this, could have been the last time. You can see that he’s thinking but you aren’t sure about what until he speaks. “I think we need to talk about what happened earlier.”  
At first you aren’t sure what he means until you see the look in his eyes. “You… you kissed me earlier.” You stay quiet. You aren’t sure if you’re being scolded or not. You hadn’t really thought about it after it happened. You didn’t even really think as you did it. You just… did. It felt right at the time but now you’re scared that maybe you messed up somehow. He is watching your face intently. “I wasn’t going to say anything..” he continues, “but I can’t just ignore it.” You still aren’t sure how to respond. You pull away from him a little but he catches your hand, keeping you close. “I guess what I’m asking here is… what was it? Was it just you being happy to see me alive? Or is there more? I understand it either way, and no matter what you answer I won’t look at you differently, but I need to know.” You stumble over your words, you aren’t sure how to handle this. “I…. I don’t know, I mean…” he can see the fear in your face and he tries another tactic. “I’m not asking you to punish you. I’m asking because I want us both to know where we stand so we can move forward. I’m as guilty as you are. I kissed you back. I just want to know if this is a one off thing or if maybe there’s more to unpack here.” You know in your heart that you love him, but you don’t know if that’s entirely what it was. He’s right. It could have just been you expressing how happy you were to see him. As much as you love him you can’t say for certain that if his life hadn’t been in danger you would’ve still done it.  
You hang your head not knowing how to answer him. “I don’t know.” He sits up and moves closer. “Then let’s find out.” He lifts your chin gently and this time initiates the kiss himself. With it just being the two of you, there is no awkwardness. You allow yourself to give in to him and really see what this is. This kiss is softer, sweeter, than the last. When he pulls away you want to follow but you know you shouldn’t. “How do you feel?” He asks, eyes searching your own. “Like I love you.” His eyes widen a bit at the confession but he is still searching your face for something. “Are you sure? I need you to be sure.” You swallow back your fear and take yunho's advice, it’s time to tell him. “I’ve loved you since before we ever got here…” it comes out quieter than you intended and you aren’t sure why you’re embarrassed but a blush overtakes you anyway. His eyes instantly are softer. He reaches out to touch your face. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He asks just as quiet. You don’t want to look at him but at the same time it feels weird not to. “I didn’t want to mess anything up. I knew that I loved you but I thought if I told you and you didn’t feel the same it would ruin everything. I didn’t want to be without you, so I just never told you.” He shakes his head and moves closer again. “You will never be without me. I promise. I literally died yesterday and I still came back to you today. You haven’t ruined anything. I love you too.”  
Relief washes over you at the words and you kiss him again, the way you’ve always wanted to. You kiss him over and over again until you are both breathless and dizzy. It feels so good to not have barriers between you now. You both lay down again, just staring up into the canopy lights the way one would gaze at the stars. “There was a moment, out there,” he starts quietly, “after she walked away and I was just lying there bleeding… everything became impossibly still. And I just looked up at the sky, and for a moment everything was so peaceful. I realized I was going to die.” He says lacing your fingers through his. “I thought of you. You were the only concern that I had. The only thing I knew I was going to regret, was that I would die loving you, and you’d never know.” You prop yourself up so you can look at him, running your fingers through his hair. “I had a similar thought.” You say. You want to kiss him again but you don’t. You can have him whenever you want now, it can wait. “I was with Yunho..” he raises his eyebrows at this but you explain. “Once we all realized that you were probably in big trouble he came to stay with me. Slept in here with me and everything that night. It was really sweet. He asked me why I hadn’t told you that I loved you and I told him why. But after I said it I had the same thought, somewhere deep down I knew that I might not ever get to. It’s a really awful feeling.” He’s just looking at you with this expression you don’t really know how to read. He chooses to leave it there for now, changing the subject. “So how are you getting along with everyone? I feel like I haven’t really got to see you interact with anyone else. How’d it go with Jongho?” You smile at the mention of his name. “It went really good. I really like him, we have a similar vibe I think. He told me all about himself, he makes me tea a lot…” Wooyoung smiles. “I’m glad you made a friend. Jongho can be a bit skittish so I wasn’t sure how he was going to react to you. I’m really glad it worked out. I feel bad because I feel like I don’t know Jongho as much as I should, partly because I haven’t been here as much since his arrival. I’ve been splitting my time between being here and being with you.” You stop him there. “Well maybe you don’t have to do that anymore. What if we just stay here?” He sits and thinks about it. “Well we would have to talk with Seonghwa about it… are you sure you want to do that? It can get pretty claustrophobic around here. Alone time is hard to come by.” You can’t help but break into a big smile thinking about it. You really like his brothers and you really love this little world you’ve been living in. “We always have our old place if we need to get away.” He nods still thinking. “Whatever you want is more than okay with me. We are going to have to talk to Seonghwa anyways if we are going to be together so I suppose we can just make that one big conversation.” He pauses and quickly retracts his statement. “Unless that’s not what you want. If you would rather take some time and decide what we are for a bit that’s fine too..” You shake your head placing a gentle hand on the uninjured side of his chest. “No, I want them to know. Now that you know how I feel and I know you feel the same I can’t imagine not being with you. You don’t understand how badly I’ve wanted this.” He smiles and looks up at the lights with a chuckle. “I’m honestly so mad at you! You could’ve told me sooner! Now I feel like we’re stupid and wasted all this time.” You laugh and snuggle in closer to him while he rants. “What have I ever done to you to make you scared of me? You’ve really just been sitting around wanting me while I’ve been sitting around wanting you.” You cut him off. “Hey, but that goes both ways! Why didn’t you say anything? You could’ve been like, ‘hey, I love you’ and I would’ve just fallen into your arms!” He sits for a moment, still watching the lights. “Apparently you’re a great actress. I genuinely had no idea you had interest in me that way. You’ve always been so cool about it. You ask me about the girls I take home and make fun of me for sleeping around. You never seemed jealous. We’re affectionate and stuff but always kept it strictly platonic. I guess I sort of felt the same as you. I didn’t want to tell you and then be way off base and kill the friendship.” You turn to him and plant a feather light kiss on his lips. “Well I’m glad we got it sorted out.” He smiles up at you and for a moment you are just wrapped up in the bliss of it all. But, your eyes can’t help but linger on the angry scars that still paint his chest. “Does it still hurt?” He takes your hand and leads it up to his shoulder. “I don’t know, let's find out.” He flinches a little as your skin comes in contact with his but when you look to see if he wants you to pull away he instead nods you on. Slowly, and as lightly as humanly possible, you run your fingertips down the length of his scars, watching him as you do. His eyes follow the path that your hand takes and at the end he meets eyes with you. You slowly lean forward and watching him intently for any signs of discomfort, you softly kiss each one. You’re trying very hard not to hurt him, and if he’s in pain at all he doesn’t show it. “I’m making a rule.” You say softly. He raises an eyebrow and smirks down at you curious. “No more life threatening injuries. Deal?”


	6. Lessons in blood sharing

You can tell he’s getting tired, and you can’t blame him, he’s got to be exhausted. Then it dawns on you, he still hasn’t fed. That’s why he looks so awful. His eyes are almost black. “Woo,” you coo softly into his ear. “You still need to eat. You’re never going to fully recover if you don’t.” He raises an eyebrow and looks around for a second in confusion. “While I appreciate your concern, it’s pretty late. There’s not really a lot I can do about it at the moment.” You sit up. “Why don’t you let me?” He still looks confused. “Feed off me. I trust you. I know you won’t hurt me. I think it would really help. At least until we can get you a decent kill at some point you know?” His gaze has taken on a more serious tone. While it’s not harsh you can see he means business. “I can’t do that. Not to you. There are some weird aspects to this that you don’t quite understand.” You roll your eyes, not having it. “Then explain it to me. Why are you making this such a big deal?”   
He sits up and moves forward to take your hands. “Because, it is a big deal. For a few reasons. It’s one thing to feed on someone random, but feeding off someone you love is…. There is a weird stigma to it. I don’t think it would be safe for us to do right now. This is too new. Also it’s widely frowned upon because there are certain connotations.” You still feel like he’s dancing around something and it’s irritating you. He can see you are frustrated and he knows you don’t understand. He pulls you really close, so your noses are almost touching. His voice softens as he tries to reach a compromise. “Maybe we can have a broader discussion on it later. Right now I just don’t feel comfortable with it. A feed can be a very intimate, personal experience. Especially with someone you love. I want you to fully understand it if we decide to do it. You need to know the risks and everything involved.” You nod, casting your eyes down onto the sheets. You feel like you’ve been rejected and it hurts a little bit. He pulls you into another kiss, stealing your breath. These new sensations are insane. It’s like you can feel him with every cell in your body. You aren’t sure if that’s a vampire thing or just a love thing but whatever it is you are already addicted to it.   
You fall asleep against his chest as you have so many times before. It’s crazy how different it feels now.   
In the morning you both wake sort of late. You stay in bed for a while, mainly because you are game planning the conversation with Seonghwa. You still aren’t sure exactly why telling him is so important but there seems to be a lot riding on his approval so you suppose you will find out. When you creep down stairs you find the house mostly empty. There is breakfast down there with a cute little note from Yunho that says, since he’s out of commission I thought I’d help out. Enjoy! I stole some bacon. An unexpected voice comes from behind you, causing you to jump. “They went into town. They should be back shortly.” It’s Yeosang. He’s lazily posted up on his bed, looks like he may have been reading. “Oh, and joong and Mingi went out too. Not sure why, they never really explain themselves. I think it’s just me and San.” You nod, and he looks in the direction of the stairs. “How’s he doing? Is he up yet?” You pick up your breakfast and move to the table closest to him. “Yeah he’s awake. He’s in good spirits, but you can tell he’s still exhausted. He needs to feed.” Yeosang nods, you can tell he’s thinking you just aren’t sure about what. “I told him last night he should just feed on me.” He raises his eyebrows at that, a smirk painting his pretty lips. “Oh? And how did that go?” You shrug, taking another bite of food before answering. “He got all weird, but he wouldn’t really tell me why? Wait, do you know why?” You can see the amusement sparking behind his eyes and you know he has the answers you want. “I do know why….. but if I explain this to you, you can’t tell him we had this conversation. I’m sure he has his reasons for not explaining it and he might get mad about me teaching you all this stuff.”   
You promise you won’t tell, so he pats the spot on the bed next to him, inviting you up. You come and sit beside him on his bed. His little sleep cubby is almost whimsical looking, everything decorated in star and moon imagery. It’s soothing. “Okay so I know your heart was in the right place. You want to help him, and I know he greatly appreciates that. So I’m sure he explained there is sort of some weird shit associated with feeding on someone you know right?” You nod, eager to understand. He sits for a moment, deciding how to proceed and then sighs. “So it’s pretty much about sex. I know what you were proposing wasn’t sexually motivated in the least, and I’m sure he was also aware, but that’s the inescapable thing everyone will immediately think when they hear that.” Now you feel even more confused than when you started. He continues, trying to bring you some clarity. “So he explained to you about the enzymes in our saliva and how different situations lead to different reactions right?” You shrug and explain that he didn’t go into that great of detail. “Okay, well for the most part there are three main functions this enzyme can serve. So obviously it can be used to turn someone. That’s usage number one. Next, we can use it to calm or depending on how powerful it is, stun prey. So when we take down an animal, or even a human, this automatically results unless you purposely want to inflict pain, which is honestly really sadistic and fucked up and others who do this are just the lowest of low.” He pauses to let that sink in. There are vampires out there who hurt people for enjoyment. You can feel yourself shiver. “So there is another thing the enzyme can do, on purpose or sometimes by accident. The other effect it can have is really intense pleasure. Like, better than any drug trip known to man type of extacy.”   
You still don’t totally get why this would be bad or why this is even that relevant. He can see you aren’t getting it, but he isn’t done explaining. “So, typically, a really kind of dirty thing vampires like to do is feed on women during sex. I’m sure you can imagine the benefits to this. It’s complicated though when humans are involved because you have the capacity to become addicted to it. There is a sort of trade in the vampire community, I guess it’s our version of sex work, where human women will exchange sex for a bite. It’s basically like drugs. So the easiest way I can sum up what I imagine Wooyoung’s feelings were is this: Because he feels strongly for you, he knows that the resulting bite would end up better than sex. It would lead to a very intense situation and circumstances he isn’t necessarily ready for. Also, on top of that he doesn’t want to run the risk of addicting you to it. Then there is an added layer, fear of judgement. If you came down here this morning with a bite mark, he knows what everyone would think. He doesn’t want to deal with that either. Especially because you aren’t even together.” He sees your face and stops, realizing his error. “Wait! So you guys are a thing?” You break into a smile and he can’t help but do the same pulling you into a big hug. “I’m so happy for you! I didn’t realize, did it happen last night?” You nod, chewing at your bottom lip. “We intended to tell everyone today but we were going to start with Seonghwa…” he nods in understanding. “Of course. I’ll keep my mouth shut. But, now that I know that I guess that adds yet another layer onto why he got weird.” You quirk up an eyebrow wondering what a relationship has to do with all this chemical stuff.   
“Feeding on someone you're with causes a lot of circumstances that normally wouldn’t exist. Feeding can be a form of control. Some men will purposely addict a woman to them as a sign of power. Some women will use vampire men for sex and bites and not actually love them. It just calls a lot of the relationship's motives into question.” Your eyes widen in understanding. “That’s why he said we are ‘too new’... he doesn’t want there to be any doubt that this is real.” Yeosang nods, happy you are starting to catch on. He takes your hand and squeezes it. “I’m really glad you’re together. You’re good for him. You’re good together. I can’t imagine a better addition to the family.” You smile and hug him again, truly touched by his words. You move down to ground level just as Wooyoung emerges from upstairs, San in tow. San looks like he’s been crying, you hope he’s not still beating himself up over what happened on the mountain. Wooyoung seems alright though, honestly he’s in pretty good spirits for having almost died. He looks around and gathers that no one’s home. He looks up at Yeosang who is perched on his bed just looking at the two of you. You can tell that he’s sizing you up as a couple and the tiny smirk he gives you reads like he likes it. “How long ago did they leave?” Yeosang snaps his attention back to Wooyoung, making sure not to let on that he knows anything. “Hours ago, they should be back any minute.” Woo nods and then offers you a feeble little smile. You can tell he’s nervous. He goes to the table closest to Seonghwa's office and has a seat. You follow close behind. “So how do you think this will go?” You ask softly, his tension playing at your nerves as well. He shrugs. “I don’t know what Seonghwa will say. I definitely don’t think he will be upset but I also can’t guarantee he will be jumping for joy either. This can be sort of a… sensitive subject.”   
Before you can ask the barn door bursts open revealing a happily chattering Jongho and Yunho, Seonghwa following close behind. Luckily everyone seems to be in a good mood this morning, even Seonghwa has a contented smile on his face. When he sees you, Jongho rushes over to give you a hug which you can tell Wooyoung thinks is adorable. Yunho comes to ask Woo about how he’s healing and borrows him to the bar room so he can look at him. It’s now that you realize Seonghwa is carrying groceries. “These are for you! I figured since you guys will be here a little longer than planned it would be more convenient for you if we had some actual food on hand.” You can’t help but smile at the sweet gesture. They really do already treat you like family. You thank him and begin to look through the bags when Wooyoung returns. “Actually hyung, can we talk to you?” You are surprised to hear the honorific, as Wooyoung explained they typically speak pretty casually amongst themselves. You can see it takes Seonghwa a bit by surprise as well. “Of course.” He says, gesturing for you both to join him in his office. He closes the heavy curtains to give you some privacy. “Is everything alright Wooyoung?” He nods but you can tell he’s nervous. “I wanted to make sure you were the first to know…” Wooyoung starts but you can tell the moment he starts to say it Seonghwa already knows. “Ah! I’m going to guess this is a relationship upgrade announcement?”   
Wooyoung nods sheepishly and Seonghwa beams, pulling him into an embrace. “We all knew it was coming woo. The moment you told me you were bringing her here I knew you loved her.” He releases him and turns to smile at you, giving an approving nod. “I’m happy for you. You both have my full support.” He takes your hand gently. “Welcome officially to the family my dear. We are glad to have you.” You smile and hug him, earning a bright smile from Wooyoung. “So there is something else…” Wooyoung says bringing seonghwa’s attention back to him for the moment. “We were talking last night and she brought up that maybe we could stay here on a more permanent basis. I wanted to bring it up because I also think it could be a good idea, but I don’t want to step on any toes or impose.” Seonghwa chuckles and shakes his head. “Wooyoung you know I would never turn you away. You are always welcome here. If you’d both like to stay, by all means stay! I think at this point it’s safe to assume the rest of the house thinks your girlfriend is a joy, I don’t see any reason why anyone would be opposed…” Now you and Wooyoung are both smiling like idiots at each other, the hard part over. “Hmmm,” Seonghwa continues, “why don’t we go see?” He throws open the curtains and brings you both before the others, clearing his throat to get their attention. Everyone looks up from whatever they're doing.  
“Wooyoung has something he’d like to share with you all.” All eyes are on woo. You see Yeosang smirk knowingly behind everyone. “I wanted to take a moment to inform you all that,” he takes your hand and pulls you closer, “We are making this official. So in other words, I hope you like my girlfriend because she’s not going anywhere.” Everyone lights up at the news, running to hug you both and offering congratulations. Seonghwa then speaks up. “Speaking of not going anywhere, we have another matter to attend to. The happy couple here has requested to stay with us on a more permanent basis, so I’m putting it to a vote. All in favor?” Everyone enthusiastically raises their hands. Seonghwa smiles and also raises his own. “The coven has spoken.” He pulls you into another soft hug and lightly pecks your cheek. “What’s ours is yours. Anything we can do to make you more comfortable, just let us know.” You nod and smile. At this point your cheeks hurt, but you can’t hold back the joy. You’ve been alone a long time and to finally feel like you have a family again… it’s almost too much.


	7. Jazmine

A little while after things calm down, hongjoong and Mingi return and Seonghwa pulls them both aside to share the happy news. Hongjoong emerges from the bar area with shots, smiling kindly at you. “Welcome to the family sis, sorry we missed your little announcement. Hope this’ll make up for it?” He gestures at you with a shot glass and you take it from him. He pours some for you, Wooyoung, himself, and Mingi. He raises his glass. “May you be happy always. We wish you nothing but the best.” You all drink. You expected the pair to slink back off into the shadows as usual but instead they stick around giving you the proper chance to get to know them a little. Hongjoong is very charismatic and intelligent, even charming at times. Mingi is much softer than you would've guessed. He was a little shy at first but as he warmed up to you he actually proves to be very funny. You had just talked to Mingi about your possible residence there. “Ah! Well if you guys want to stay here maybe we can reconfigure the rooms upstairs so you guys have a bit more space. We can at least talk to everyone about it.” You smile gratefully. “Oh no! I couldn’t do that. I’d never ask you guys to alter how you live for us. We have plenty of room for ourselves. We don't need anything extra.” He decides that the issue can rest for now but he assures you he will pick it back up. As it gets quiet you pick up on hongjoong and Wooyoung’s conversation across the table. “So are you intending to mate her?”   
You can see Wooyoung visibly become agitated at the question. You don’t know if hongjoong meant it to hit a nerve or not but he certainly has. “Fuck I don’t know joong, can you give me a minute to enjoy my relationship before we get into all this shit?” You jump when you hear a new voice. No one had realized Seonghwa approaching from behind, clearly listening. “Actually it’s not a bad question.” You can see Wooyoung submit under seonghwa’s gaze. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I mean maybe eventually but,” Seonghwa cuts him off, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to have all the answers. I understand this is new and all that seems irrelevant now. Just promise me, if you guys do consider it, you’ll talk to me first. Okay?” You both nod. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. I want you both to be aware of all of the risks and your options before any permanent decisions are made.” His eyes darken as he speaks and you can see shadows of the past taint his features. “But for now hongjoong,” He continues, “let’s let the kids have their happy moment shall we? This is a day for celebration. We can leave the heavy stuff for another time.” With that hongjoong nods to his superior, politely congratulates you both again, and disappears with Mingi shortly behind.   
The conversation seems to be forgotten after that. Everyone moves on, but there’s something you can’t shake. You remember when Wooyoung was first telling you about the mating ritual he said he knew someone… Seonghwa. Seonghwa is mated to someone. Or was mated to someone. Now you are so curious you can’t stand it. You push your curiosity away though. There are more pressing matters at hand, like the fact that woo still hasn’t gotten any decent blood in him. He insists he wants to go himself but you absolutely refuse to let him go out there alone. He is still healing after all. Yunho volunteers to go with him and Jongho asks to tag along. They all agree to stay close to home and head out. You hope they find something, you can tell Wooyoung is weak. The rest of the house disperses and you decide this is your best shot at answers. You slowly approach seonghwa’s office and knock softly upon entering. “He looks up and offers a soft smile. “Is it okay if I come in?” You ask, careful not to overstep any boundaries. “Of course.” You come in and he offers you the seat across from him. “Was there something on your mind?” He asks as he pours you both some hot tea. “Actually yes,” you start nervously.  
You really hope you don’t offend him or make him feel like you are being too nosey. “Earlier, When hongjoong brought up the mating thing…” he shakes his head. “You don’t need to worry about all that right now. He was out of line. Why, has he said something else?” You quickly shake your head no. “It’s not really about him, it just made me remember something. I’m sorry if it’s not my place, I don’t mean any harm in bringing it up I just…” You sigh. “Wooyoung told me about the ritual a little, and I remember I got scared because I thought that maybe he had.. you know, mated with someone. But he told me he hadn't, he just knew someone who did…” Seonghwa nods in understanding. He stares at the table for a moment, like he’s looking at the edge of a cliff. Eventually he chooses to jump. “Her name is Jazmine.” He looks up at you,eyes weighted. He sighs and pours some more tea. “This is a long story, you can still opt out if you’d like.” He says, still watching you intently. You shake your head and pour yourself some as well. He starts at the beginning.   
“So I’m sure Wooyoung explained I’m the oldest of us, and the rest are descendants of me as far as vampires go. I changed them. Aside from hongjoong and Mingi of course but we can get into them later. All vampires are descendants of another at this point. None of the originals exist anymore. I am a descendent of a different coven. A vampire called Taehyung turned me after a work accident that he had caused. He didn’t feel right about it so he saved me. It was a coven of seven when I joined, not much unlike our own. This was way back in the day so things were sort of different. We had money which made us basically untouchable in society at the time. We did terrible things. We were lavish, rude, manipulative, we had everything. We were gods. We traveled the country, leaving death in our wake. We made our way down to Louisiana, and bought a huge mansion there. We lived there a while and while we were there we met this little rogue coven. It was four women. I was instantly taken with jazmine. She was beautiful, cunning, intelligent… she’s the most powerful woman I’ve ever known. And she has these haunting green eyes…” you can see just the memory of her brings him pain. “Anyway, I took her as my lover and she joined our coven. We wreaked havoc together, terrorizing humans, we were insatiable. Everything was sex and blood and death, she made me a monster. I just let her. She had whatever she wanted. I was her lapdog. I loved her so much I was blind. I asked her to be my mate, knowing well what the risks were. In my eyes though she was perfect. I was foolish enough to think that the way I loved her was inherently the way she loved me. I was mistaken.” He pauses, just studying his tea absently. There is such a deep sadness about him.   
Then he addresses you directly, “What did Wooyoung teach you about the ritual?” You explain what you know and he nods. “That’s a good generalization about it. It melds your minds in a way. You can communicate directly through telepathy. It’s very useful in a fight or in a situation where you get separated. Eventually things with me and my brothers began to go south. As I got older and more firm in my footing with what we are, I started realizing how wrong the way that we lived really was. I tried to reason with the others but they were hearing none of it. They called me a traitor. So I decided to leave, but when I told jazmine to come with me she declined. I was devastated. She just watched me leave, in the coldest most unfeeling way. I tried to contact her but she ignored my pleas. Then one day shortly after I found out why.” You can see his fist clench on the table. His cool demeanor heats with rage. You can see the fire behind his eyes. “Something that isn't mentioned a lot about mated bonds is that the reactions aren’t something you can choose to turn on or off. When you are mated to someone any strong emotions or reactions you have are involuntarily broadcasted to the other. It’s useful in situations where your mate is in danger. However, it can prove very problematic if your relationship fails.” He takes a moment to steady himself and decide how to explain. “After I left she promptly moved on and started fucking one of my so called brothers. I found out when I was awakened in the middle of the night by her mind. I forcibly got sucked into her head and had to see them together…. I guess a decent orgasm is enough to break down mental walls.” You feel your heart sink for him.  
“Fuck Seonghwa I’m so sorry.” He waves you off. “How much did you see?” You ask him softly. He grimaces. “I saw everything. I basically had to feel her falling in love with him and having sex with him, and I saw it all through her eyes. I had to look into his face while he took her from me. I wish I could say that was the last time but it wasn’t. Unfortunately once you entwine your mind with someone else’s it can’t be undone. So I feel it any time she’s happy, any time they fight…. I have to see it all. That’s why I told Wooyoung if he was considering that I wanted to talk to you guys about it first. I would hate to see you fall apart and have to live the way I live.” You take his hand. “You didn’t deserve that. It’s awful what she did to you.” He nods and gives a small smile. “Wait, So you said you can’t undo it… so you can’t mate with someone else?” He shakes his head. “Oh you can, but all that’ll do is add another person to your head. I’ll always be linked to jazmine, Until one of us dies.” You both sit for a moment in heavy silence. Then, he softens, taking your hand gently. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I know you and Wooyoung are a totally different situation. I don’t for a second think either of you could do that to each other. I just want you both to know what you’re walking into.” You nod and thank him for talking with you. Just as you finish you hear the barn door wrench open and for a moment your heart stops. You’ve gotten so used to that sound heralding bad news that it’s an involuntary reaction now. But you hear laughter and are relieved.


	8. Aurora

Seonghwa opens the heavy curtains and you both head into the entry. Yunho and Jongho are animatedly chattering about some nonsense and you just catch a glimpse of Wooyoung running upstairs for something. You go give Yunho and Jongho big hugs. “So how’d it go?” Yunho gestures at the stairs. “Look for yourself.” He beams, looking over at who you assume is woo at the top of the stairs behind you. You turn and can’t help but smile. He looks a million times better. He’s a little blood stained and dirty from the hunt, his long dark hair pulled back in a little ponytail. The blackness around his eyes is gone. His skin is glowing. He looks like a whole new person. Actually, you think to yourself, he looks really hot right now. You mentally roll your eyes at yourself but it’s too late. He’s already caught you checking him out. Your eyes meet and you immediately blush a little, a slow smirk creeping across his lips. He starts heading your way. Confidence and power are just radiating off of him, afterglow of the hunt. Adrenaline looks good on him. When he reaches you he pulls you into a tight embrace softly speaking a ‘hey baby’ into your hair. You look up and plant a quick kiss on his lips. “You look better.” He smiles brilliantly. “I feel better.” He raises an eyebrow. “That’s all you’re gonna say? All this eyeballing me and that’s all I get?” You roll your eyes. “Oh come on, I look good.”   
You chuckle and look him up and down. “You’re alright.” He laughs as you try to walk away and pulls you back in, sitting you on the table behind you and going in for a real kiss. When he pulls away he smirks at you again. “Just alright?” You giggle. “Maybe a little more than alright.” A voice pulls you both out of your little bubble. “Nauseating. Cute, but nauseating.” It’s Yeosang smiling down from his loft. Wooyoung waves him off and you just beam up at him. “So,” Wooyoung starts, loud enough for the surrounding others to hear, “wanna go out tonight?” You look at him questioningly. Yunho is into the idea, Yeosang is also excited. Even Mingi emerges from upstairs at the prospect of having some fun. Everyone is looking at you expectantly. “Oh come on, please? We used to go out all the time, remember? It’s just this time the only person you’re dancing with is me.” You giggle at the remark. “Oh so we’re possessive now?” He nods and smiles, entwining his fingers with yours. “What do you think?” You pause, still a little unsure. “I don’t really have any going out clothes here…” you mumble. Jongho clears his throat behind you. “Well actually, I may have taken a little detour while we were out...” he says beaming. That must be why Wooyoung ran upstairs. “What? Jongho you didn’t have to do that!” He smiles, suddenly seeming a little shy. Wooyoung fills in the blanks. “I asked him to do it. I was already thinking about going out tonight and knew you wouldn’t go if you didn’t have something to wear, so I trusted that Jongho as your friend would be able to pick something out you maybe wouldn’t hate.” You raise your eyebrows. “How’d he do?” Woo looks over and smiles at him. “I looked at what he got, he did really well. I think it’ll suit you.”   
You head upstairs to judge Jongho’s taste for yourself. There is a black bag, and a shoe box on the bed. You go through the bag first. He didn’t do anything too crazy. You find a little black dress, it’s classy but sexy, with a deep plunge neckline and slit up the one side. There is also some basic makeup in there for you. The shoes are perfect. Exactly your style, and the heels aren’t too high to have fun in thank god. You put on the dress and do your makeup, going for a basic Smokey eye and the right shade of lipstick, since Jongho left you options. You put on your shoes and decide you don’t look half bad, examining yourself in San’s mirror, since Wooyoung doesn’t have one in your room. San was helping do your hair while you were working on your makeup, since you did at least bring a straightener with you when you came. You both stand back and admire your work. He smiles and gently hugs you from behind. “You look beautiful. Wooyoung might decide you can’t go now.” You both laugh and San begins getting ready himself as you start to head down stairs. The boys have all been getting ready too. You see Yeosang first who is stunning as always. He’s decided on solid white for the occasion which goes perfectly with his hair, which falls in soft platinum waves to just above his shoulders. He’s wearing a flowing white shirt that only he could pull off. The back and sleeves are sheer, showing just enough skin to draw your eye. He whistles when he sees you and you can’t help but blush.   
Yunho peeks around to look from his room and gets a big smile. “Someone cleans up nice.” He says, emerging from the other side of the curtain. He’s wearing a classic white dress shirt and black pants but what’s most striking about the look is his hair. Normally it’s parted closer to the middle but today he’s done it more to the side and it makes a huge difference. He looks less boyish this way, and you must admit he looks incredibly handsome. “I could say the same to you.” You reply, giving him an exaggerated look up and down. Jongho then comes around the corner. He’s in all black, which you love with the red tips of his hair. He beams, taking in the look he picked out for you. “I knew you’d look amazing.” San comes down the stairs and you are honestly shocked. He’s gone a little bolder in his wardrobe choice. He’s wearing a sleeveless blue button down, with black bands brandishing his arms. He’s also done a full face of makeup, a bit more than the subtle looks of the other boys. It suits him well though. There is a thin black choker at his throat and black rings on his fingers as well. You admire his affinity for accessorizing.   
Wooyoung emerges from the bathroom downstairs, you see him before he sees you. He’s actually gone for a pretty basic look, but being honest he never really has to try. His beauty is effortless. You’ve always been jealous of him for that. He’s wearing a fitted black v neck tee and tight black jeans. He’s got on a black choker similar to san’s and then several delicate chains that head all the way down his exposed chest. His makeup is sort of between San and Yeosang, the most notable thing being his bold eyeliner. His hair is down but pushed back just a little. It’s just long enough to wave a bit. You always love it when he grows it out. He sprays some cologne and is looking himself over in a mirror down stairs when he catches you in the background. He whips around as you head down the stairs to meet him. His mouth hangs open upon seeing you. He takes you all in, head to toe. He looks up at Jongho who just smiles proudly and admires his work. You can tell he doesn’t know what to say yet so you start. “Look at you pretty boy.” You say smirking as you get closer. You can tell he can’t wait to get his hands on you, taking a few steps to meet you so he can wrap his arms around your waist and pull you in close. “You look absolutely stunning.” He says it softly, just for you. “I’m literally stunned.” You give him a shy smile as you hear a soft voice chime in behind you. “Stunning indeed.” You turn to smile at Seonghwa but freeze as you see him. He normally looks so soft and sweet that you are completely caught off guard by him. He’s in deep red velvet, a deep v giving you quite the view of his chest. A soft velvet choker adorns his throat, and his pants are leather, practically painted on. His makeup is exquisite and ornate, rhinestones under his eyes. His hair is parted much like Yunho’s. He looks like a demon, in the best way possible.   
Though his demeanor still reads as sweet, the rest of him is screaming something entirely different. It’s a bit disorienting. He notices your gawking and smiles shyly down at the ground. “I know, I don’t seem like the type huh?” You shake your head. “You look amazing. I honestly would have never guessed you cleaned up quite like this.” A little confidence creeps into his expression. “I was known to be pretty hot back in the day…” the rest laugh shaking their heads. You don’t doubt him though. You can tell the whole jazmine ordeal really messed with his self image. Before her, you’d bet he was a force of nature. Mingi comes noisily down the stairs drawing everyone’s attention. He cleans up nice as well. His hair is slicked back and his makeup is done adding a harder edge to his handsome features. He’s rocking shades and a purple dress shirt, unbuttoned halfway, not leaving much to the imagination. His jeans are a dull blue with tears in the knees. He looks you up and down and smiles. “Wow, jongho did well for you. You look really nice.” You thank him and he gives you a sweet smile. You kind of like him even though you haven’t spoken much. Hongjoong is last to appear. He has also opted for a solid black look. His pants are tight around his small waist and on top he wears a slightly oversized silk top, accompanied by a piece of silk tied around his neck to act as a choker. His makeup is more like San and Seonghwa’s, it’s a bit flashy adding a mysterious air to his features. While sans is mostly black, and seonghwas is accented in red, joong has accented his in blue to match his hair. It’s funny looking at the group of them you can tell they are all a unit even though their color schemes don’t necessarily match. You can only hope you don’t look like the odd one out. Hongjoong sets eyes on you and smiles enthusiastically exclaiming “well don’t you look lovely!” Causing you to giggle and blush as everyone turns to look at you, nodding in confirmation. You thank him, and Wooyoung snakes an arm around your waist pulling you in closer.   
Everyone grabs whatever they need, wallets and such, and heads outside as night falls, piling into vehicles. Jongho and Yunho choose to come with you in Wooyoung’s Jeep. The other five squeeze into seonghwa’s truck as you all head into the city. You’ve never heard of this club you’re going to, but apparently the boys frequent it. It’s called aurora. You find parking down the street and walk a couple blocks up to the place. The man at the door already knows their faces and lets them right in. Once inside you are bathed in violet light and pulsing music and you can feel Wooyoung perk up beside you. He loves to dance, and the crowded atmosphere, neon lights, and pounding beats really awaken something in him. Jongho finds a table toward the back and parks himself there. Everyone sort of starts there and disperses throughout the room. Hongjoong and Seonghwa immediately head for the bar. Yunho and Mingi head straight for the dance floor. You are shocked by how well they move for being so tall. San and Yeosang immediately start scoping out the women in the room. They have plenty to choose from. The moment the boys arrived all eyes were on them. They could have their pick of the room. You are standing by Jongho, leaning against the table unsure what you should do. Wooyoung has stuck by you, and now that San and Yeosang have edged off into the crowd you have his full attention. “What do you want to drink?” He asks, already knowing the drill. You don’t dance until you have some alcohol in you. You give him an order and he slinks off toward the bar. You can see some of the other girls' eyes follow him there but honestly you aren’t even worried about it. This isn’t new territory for you.   
Jongho looks a little out of place just sitting, you can tell this isn’t really his scene. You relate. Before you met Wooyoung you weren’t really one for crowded rooms either. You brush his hand with yours on the table to get his attention and he smiles when he sees you. “Not much for the club scene?” You ask. He shakes his head. “Dancing and drunk people are not really my cup of tea.” You give him a reassuring smile. “I’m sorry they dragged you out here.” You say and he shakes his head. “It’s safer this way. We try to always travel together. That way if something were to happen no one is alone.” You hadn’t thought about that but he’s right. Jongho straightens up and nods behind you, signaling that Wooyoung is returning. You turn and take your drink from him and can’t help but smile. He’s absolutely glowing and it sort of dawns on you that this is the first time you’ve gone out with him where he’s been yours. That is all yours. You get to take him home tonight. He raises an eyebrow in question as he watches you have your little internal moment but you shake your head and wave him off, sipping your drink. While you both suck down your first drinks, you fall into one of your favorite pastimes, people watching, this time featuring his brothers. Hongjoong is talking up a girl at the bar, she seems really into it. Yunho has found himself a dance partner and they are the center of attention out on the floor. Mingi looks to be getting himself something to drink. You start looking for San and Yeosang. You find Yeosang first. It’s hard to miss him, he has a whole audience, all women. Each one looking absolutely enthralled with whatever he’s saying, wondering who’ll be the lucky one.   
You nudge Woo, “does he ever actually entertain any of them or does he just like the attention?” He exhales a laugh. “He likes the attention. I feel like he only goes home with girls when he needs to feed and I’m not even sure if he sleeps with them. I think it would take a lot to genuinely catch his interest.” You wonder, if you asked him about it would he tell you? You feel pretty comfortable with him. You think you could gain some confidence out of him maybe. San is on the other side of the room and has a different approach. Quality over quantity. He chose the most beautiful girl he could find in the room and has had her glued to his side all night. Wooyoung starts on San before you can even ask. “San on the other hand, takes girls home a lot. He chooses the one he wants, and he tests her all night. If he likes her, he will show her the time of her life and she might even get a couple dates out of him. If he decides she’s shallow or fake, he takes her home, gets what he wants out of her, calls her an Uber and tells her to get the fuck out. It’s honestly brutal, but at the same time, he’s a firm believer that if she wants to look at him like a piece of meat he’s allowed to treat her like one.” You nod, taking that in. For once the nice girl wins. You kind of like that idea.   
You both look around the bar for Seonghwa and find him down at the far end. While all manner of girls and even men are showing him interest, he keeps to himself, calmly sipping his drink. Your heart breaks for him again thinking about the conversation you had. As you both watch him something alarming happens. You see him suddenly straighten up, his eyes going wide. The glass slips from his hand and shatters on the floor but he doesn’t even seem to notice. He scans the room with his eyes very intently. Wooyoung can tell something’s up and tells you to stay with Jongho as he takes off across the room. You don’t listen, wanting to know what’s going on. You follow just behind Wooyoung and catch only the very end of their exchange. “... it’s bangtan. They’re here.” Seonghwa’s eyes find you over his shoulder. “Take her and go. Now. You need to get out. They can’t see her, do you understand? Go now.” Wooyoung grabs your wrist and quickly leads you to the back exit of the club, fishing the keys from his pocket. He takes you straight to the Jeep and waits. “Woo what’s going on? What happened back there?” He shakes his head to silence you, eyes fixed out the window, waiting. You hear a bang on the window to your right and jump. It’s Jongho. Immediately, Wooyoung slams the car in reverse and peels out of the parking lot. Jongho follows closely behind in the truck. They are absolutely flying down every backroad they can find, avoiding all major highways. He can sense that you’re scared and rests a hand on your knee to steady you. “I’ll explain when we get back, Okay? Right now we just have to get you out of here.” He glances at you and you nod.  
You entwine your fingers in his and squeeze, letting him know that you trust him. He takes a complicated route deep into the forest, the roads bathed in nothing but pitch blackness. At some point, Jongho veers off to the left, separating from you and Wooyoung. He knows you’re going to ask so Woo just answers. “In case we were followed.” You don’t like this answer and you don’t like how tense Wooyoung looks. He’s the most easy going person you know and you’ve never seen him like this. His grip on the steering wheel is tight, you can see him clenching and unclenching his jaw, and he’s completely focused on the road ahead. Your stomach churns and you almost feel sick as your anxiety starts to skyrocket. He can feel your nervous energy and lifts the hand he’s holding to his lips, kissing the back of it. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. Nothing is going to happen. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. You know that.” You nod, tears blurring your vision as the anxiety overwhelms you. “I’m not worried about that, I just want to know what the fuck is going on.” You blink back the panic, knowing that freaking out isn’t going to help anyone. “We are almost home. Can you hold on until then?” You nod. You want to be strong for him. If he’s holding it together you can too. When you arrive Jongho is already there, but still sitting in the truck. You can visibly see him relax when he sees you pull in. Everyone exits their vehicles and Wooyoung goes to quickly hug Jongho. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”   
He nods and embraces him back. “I had to make sure she was alright, you’re not the only one that loves her you know.” Woo chuckles and thanks him again. Jongho waves you and woo inside, staying behind watching the tree line. The second you get in the door you round on Wooyoung. “So what the fuck is going on?” He looks at you for a second but before he can respond you continue, “Seonghwa said something about ‘bangtan’ what is that? Who are we running from?” He reaches out and touches you, hoping to calm you down. “There was another clan in there that we don’t particularly get along with. He didn’t want them to see you because they could potentially weaponize you against us. Remember when I told you vampire relationships were complicated? Consider this a complication. I don’t know exactly what’s going on either, he didn’t explain he just told me to take you and go.” You sigh exasperated. “So why did Jongho come with us? Do you guys already have plans for this type of thing?” You didn’t hear him come in but Jongho answers from behind you. “Yes and no. Also, you aren’t the only one who’s not acquainted with bangtan. I haven’t met them either. I followed you guys and Seonghwa told me it would be best if they didn’t know of me for now until he could figure out what they want.” Wooyoung picks up the explanation. “As a coven we have only run into bangtan twice. Both times for specific reasons. They only seek out Seonghwa if they need him. They are less than pleasant company. They are sadistic by nature and love to instigate trouble. You aren’t missing much.” You’re glad you missed them. “But wait, so why does Seonghwa know them? Why would they come looking for him?” Wooyoung raises his eyebrows, surprised you haven’t put two and two together. “That’s where he came from.”   
Now you know what the terror in seonghwa’s eyes really was. It was her. She spoke to him. It almost made you angry to know that centuries later this bitch was still tormenting him. Everyone has paused, allowing you to process. “So what happens to the others?” Jongho has gone to the bar area, probably making tea. “We don’t know how many of them were there. The ones who stayed basically become seonghwa’s backup if things were to get ugly, but I don’t think it would come to that. At least not upon an initial meeting.” Now you are scared for the rest. “He told me that coven is eight like you guys, if everyone did show up wouldn’t he still be outnumbered?” He nods. “Honestly the odds are stacked against us either way. Every single member of their coven would be stronger than us because they are older. But, you also haven’t seen Seonghwa in a fight. Seonghwa is easily as strong as three of us combined. Plus he’s got hongjoong and Mingi who are just as old as he is if not older. Mingi has a size advantage and hongjoong is unbelievably fast. I’d hate to face any of them in a fight. Then they have the rest also. My brothers can fend for themselves. I’m sure everyone will be fine.” Jongho returns and silently hands you a cup of tea. “Drink it, it’ll calm you down.” You take a sip and he continues. “They are just going to meet with them and see what they want. Then everyone will find their own way home and try to ensure they aren’t followed, sort of like we did.” Wooyoung raises a hand and stops him there. “Let’s not worry until we know more.” Jongho nods. “I'll wait down here, why don’t you two go upstairs.”   
You head up to your room, Wooyoung close behind. You take off your shoes and sit on the bed, clutching a pillow for comfort. He is watching you carefully, trying to gage whether or not you’re okay. “Baby c’mere.” He beckons you to the end of the bed where he’s standing. With you kneeling on the bed you are perfect height for him to pull you in and kiss your forehead gently. You wrap your arms around him and he just holds you there for a minute. You drink in his warmth and do your best to concern yourself with his calming properties, the gentleness of his touch, his scent, you focus on the little sensations. He starts trailing you with soft kisses, starting from your temple and making his way down to your cheekbone, your jawline, and finally he finds your lips. He’s successfully fooled you. You are no longer anxious or feel any distress. Now all that exists is you and him and this room. The rest can wait. As his kisses deepen you straighten up a bit to meet him. You feel the heat begin to creep over your skin signifying your need for him. You can feel the years of unrequited feelings and pent up desire beginning to take hold over you. He undoubtedly feels the cues your body is giving him and follows suit. The temperature in the room seems to rise as you both start spiraling down this rabbit hole. You don’t know that either of you will be able to stop once this gets started but at the moment you really don’t care. Your hands wander down his body, fingers ghosting across his skin at the hem of his shirt, hesitating. He’s yours and yet you are still so unsure. You don’t know what his boundaries are yet or what exactly he’s looking for from you and it makes you nervous. Hooking up with random guys is easy. The moment you take them home they know your intent and are on board. This is more delicate than that. This is Wooyoung. You’ve loved him for what seems like forever and you want to get this exactly right.   
He senses your skittishness and pulls you in closer, his way of letting you know he’s on the same page. He’s moved on from your mouth and is starting to focus his attention elsewhere, tipping your head back a bit to expose your throat. Your hand moves freely beneath his shirt now and his skin is on fire, as you are sure yours is beneath his lips. While your right hand trails up his abs to his chest, your left cradles him into your neck craving all the closeness you can get. Your fingers run through his soft hair, pulling slightly as you feel him run his tongue along the vein at your throat, sending a shiver through you. Knowing what he is makes this feel even more intimate than it already is, and you decide you need a break. You tug at his shirt a little and you feel him smile against your skin. He takes a little step back, allowing you room to pull his shirt over his head so you can admire him. His honey skin glows beautifully under the dimmed canopy lights and now that he’s uncovered you can see the final product of his self healing. He sees your eyes linger on his scars and he lets you look for a second before speaking. “What do you think? Not bad right?” You smile and run your fingers over the silvery white marks like you did the night before. “They’re almost… pretty.” You say softly, lightly kissing over them like before. You continue your way up to his collarbone, stopping at the base of his throat before he pulls you up to meet his lips again.  
You break from him abruptly, sitting back, signaling him to join you on the bed. He immediately pouts a little at your distance and follows. You try to lay him back into the pillows but are met with some resistance. Instead of relinquishing control entirely to you, he creates a compromise. He pulls you onto his lap and moves a hand up into your hair, tugging gently to expose your neck to him again. You don’t resist, lolling your head back, giving him what he wants. A small sigh escapes your lips as he kisses and sucks at every inch of skin he can reach. He continues his path down the center of your chest, following as far as the deep cut of the fabric will allow. He is growing impatient though and wants more. He pushes the straps of your dress off either side of your shoulders, the top half pooling at your waist, leaving your chest bare for him. He wastes no time continuing where he left off, lightly peppering kisses down the front of your chest, hesitating at your bust line. He’s giving you the opportunity to back out, but at this point you are too far gone to want to. You arch into him a little, spurring him on. One hand pulls you in closer to him while the other runs up the side of your thigh, lingering near the hem of your dress. He’s just teasing now. The metallic feel of his rings is cold against your burning skin, sending goosebumps down your legs as he moves further up your skirt.   
You can’t help but grind down on him a little at the feeling of his hands on your ass. Both your hands are in his hair as he teases your nipples with his tongue, and you encourage him further by lightly rolling your hips, giving him the go ahead to go further. He doesn’t though, making his way back up to your neck. You feel the soft scrape of his fangs against the plush skin of your throat and you whimper, caught off guard but extremely turned on. Then he stops. You almost groan in frustration, until you hear the barn door open and voices downstairs. His expression, once dark with lust is now softer and lighter as he chuckles into your skin. “I tried to tell you. Alone time is hard to come by around here. You didn’t want to listen…” you can’t help but laugh as you climb off of him and begin fixing your dress, pulling it back down over your ass and sliding the straps back up your arms. He hops off the bed and squints in the dark looking for where you discarded his shirt. Before you exit the room you both help straighten each other up, moving hair back in place, he fixes your lipstick, just little things to keep you from getting caught. Then he looks into your eyes, and takes a steadying breath. “Let’s hope there’s good news.”


	9. Buzzkill

You head down stairs to find Jongho hugging a tired looking Yunho. Seonghwa peeks out of his office when he hears you both coming. Wooyoung immediately starts asking questions, but Seonghwa silences him. “Let’s wait for everyone to make it back. Then we need to make some decisions. I’ll explain then.” Now Wooyoung looks worried. A few minutes go by before anyone else turns up. Next is Yeosang, looking more rattled than you’ve ever seen him. Yeosang in your mind, has the demeanor of a cat. Always cool, calm, and collected. Always in a state of ‘I couldn’t care less’. Not tonight. You move to hug him and he hugs you back tightly, catching you off guard. “Glad you’re back in one piece.” You murmur, and he responds with a solemn ‘me too’. Mingi and hongjoong arrive next, and immediately join Seonghwa in his office. You can hear their hushed murmuring through the heavy curtains. Finally San makes it back. He comes to hug you and then Wooyoung, glad you are okay. A few minutes pass before the eldest three emerge. They come to stand in the front of the room, eyes passing from face to face slowly. The room is tense and your anxiety is beginning to creep it’s way back up your throat. You squeeze Wooyoung’s hand and he pulls you back against him and holds you tight, giving what little help he can offer.  
Seonghwa’s voice commands the attention of the room. “I’m going to catch Wooyoung and Jongho up and then we will get down to business here.” The rest nod, as Jongho comes to stand beside you. “Bangtan are in town and I fear they won’t leave easily. Only three of them were in the bar but the rest are lurking around I’m sure. The initial meeting was just with jazmine, Jungkook, and Hoseok. They have decided they are bored with their previous territories and have apparently decided that they want to start hanging around here. I’m not totally sure what their intent is or what the point of meeting me tonight was. They approached me almost like they wanted to come to some sort of truce but I know better. My assumption is they are going to try and drive us out.” Your eyes widen at his words. You can see the shock on Wooyoung’s face, but Jongho just continues to listen. “I don’t intend to let that happen but it’s going to get really complicated while we figure out a plan. Hongjoong and Mingi were helping me strategize and I think the best thing we can do right now is keep their knowledge of us to a minimum. Jongho is an asset they don’t know we have. I would like to keep it that way as long as possible, so that if this does come to a fight we have some element of surprise on our side.” He looks directly at you and Wooyoung. “You need to keep her hidden from them as long as possible. The moment they know you have a weakness they will exploit it and I can’t say for certain what they might do.” He gives you a weary look. “As you all know, jazmine was once my mate, and therefore she has access to my mind. At any moment she can look through my eyes. While she can’t pry into my thoughts she can check in on my current locations and actions, so I’m making the decision to leave.”  
This comes as a shock to everyone. However, no one protests. Everyone knows Seonghwa is right. Him being here puts the whole coven at risk. “Where will you go?” Yunho asks. He shrugs. “I’ll figure something out, if I have to maybe call in some favors with old friends I will.” You almost cut him off, blurting out, “Wait I have a place!” He looks at you curiously. Everyone is looking at you eagerly hoping your solution is a good one. “I… I have an apartment. Down in the city.” Wooyoung realizes what you’re doing and gets excited, explaining further. “I was paying for a place for her! We still have it. You could go there. It’s far enough away that they can’t trace it here, but we will at least know where you are.” Seonghwa nods and smiles, thankful that you guys are willing to offer him your space. Jongho looks concerned now though. “You aren’t going alone are you?” Seonghwa reaches out and places a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “No, of course not. Hongjoong and Mingi are coming with me. They are the only two here who aren’t directly related to the rest of you so they are the safest option. That way, if they do find us, they can’t use them to trace any of you.” This confuses you. “But they all share your blood. Doesn’t that mean if they have you they can trace the rest?” He grins. “They don’t know my spells.”  
He sees the confusion on your face and takes your hand, leading you into his office, to the desk where you saw him perform the rituals with the dish. “I was going to teach you this anyway, in case you ever needed it. The rest know how to do the spells so if you need, they can teach you. For now I’ll just show you everyone’s defining ingredients. The spell is always the same, but each one of us has different herbs and flowers we use. For example, when you saw me access Wooyoung, I used mint and lavender. Those are specific to him. San is eucalyptus and rose petals. Yeosang is rosemary and orange blossom. Jongho is wormwood and foxglove. Lastly, yunho is white sage and lily.” You nod, eying the substances all lining the table. He keeps it fairly organized so if you need any of this stuff at least you’ll know where to find it. “What about you?” You ask. He smiles. “If you are looking for me, perform the ritual by itself, minus the special ingredients. Since this ritual is specific to my blood, it will go directly to me.” You really need someone to teach you how this turning stuff actually works. For now though, it can wait.  
You both emerge from the office just as Yunho has some kind of epiphany. He slams his fist down on the table. “North! The rest are hanging around up north!” Everyone is looking at him, unsure why he’s come to this conclusion. He looks around, trying to get everyone on his wavelength.”The bear!” Yeosang now has an expression that would be comical were it not for the overbearing tension in the room. Yunho sighs in frustration, realizing he’s going to have to go back to the beginning of his thought process. “I knew that shit didn’t sound right when Wooyoung told me to begin with! Why the fuck would a bear, with Cubs no less, be this far down the mountain? It makes absolutely no sense. Since when do we ever see bears out here? I’ve only seen one, ever, since we got here and it was way up north remember?” He looks to San and he nods. He must’ve been there for the bear sighting. Still, no one is sure where he’s going with this. He looks around to the others. “Did anyone else notice that they didn’t ask about Wooyoung? Every member of us that they know was in that bar but Wooyoung, and no one thought to ask about it. We all know Jungkook is more perceptive than that.” You’re watching everyone’s faces and now everyone looks even more concerned but you still aren’t sure what’s being implied here. Seonghwa seems to be with you on this one. “So what are you saying?” Yeosang answers, finally seeing where Yunho is going with this. “He’s saying, they didn’t ask about Wooyoung because Wooyoung wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. I think he’s saying they assumed Wooyoung to be dead.” You can see the wheels turning behind Seonghwa’s eyes while he tries to put the pieces together. You can feel Wooyoung starting to tense up behind you. You can’t blame him. It can’t feel good to hear people chat about a possible plan to have you killed. You turn around and wrap your arms around him, still looking at the rest. Seonghwa responds. “Yunho, how does that make sense? It was a bear. How is bangtan just going to use a bear as a weapon?” Yunho has an answer for that too. “You’re right, bears don’t just bend to anyone’s will. But there’s only one thing that would bring a mother bear down that mountain with Cubs.” You see it click in seonghwas brain before Yunho even finishes. “She was being hunted.”  
You interject, still unsure about the idea. Considering the amount of damage that thing did to Wooyoung you can’t imagine someone hunting it. “Can they do that? Could they take down a bear? Clearly woo couldn’t, and I’d wager the rest of you couldn’t either.” Seonghwa shakes his head. “Bangtan typically hunt different than us. We like to go in pairs, but they tend to pack hunt. Usually four to a hunting party. They can take down bigger prey that way. Then they can share instead of everyone fending for themselves. It tends to be more efficient. Besides, I’ve seen Jungkook and Taehyung take out a grizzly just the two of them.” You are shocked. The sheer strength these guys have to have is insane. Seonghwa continues. “I understand your skepticism though. Where she is right Yunho, is that what you’re suggesting is serious. We can’t go walking around assuming this grand scheme of them and not have any actual proof.” Yeosang chimes in again in defense of Yunho. “But hyung think about it, they show up and decide they want us out. Would you not want to weaken us first? What’s the best way to do that? Kill one of us. In their mind, they get rid of Wooyoung, then call a meeting while we are a man down and grieving. It makes us more likely to yield.” Seonghwa’s face darkens considerably as it really starts to sink in that Wooyoung may have been targeted. You still aren’t sure.  
“But how would they know you guys were even going out that day? Could it be jazmine?” You look to Seonghwa. He shakes his head. “No, the bond between jazmine and I makes us able to communicate and it links our emotional responses but we don’t have access to the others' thoughts unless it’s granted. Also, I can feel when she’s in my head. I would have known and called the whole thing off.” He pauses. “Which means if all this is true, they are getting information from someone else.” Jongho finally speaks. “Someone is watching us.” San looks around. “If they have someone watching us, wouldn’t that mean they already know our location? Why call the meeting? They could have come straight to us.” Hongjoong takes over the conversation. “Bangtan likes to play games. This is all power play. This isn’t about territory. If it was they’d just take it by force. We are missing pieces of this puzzle. There’s nothing lucrative even up here for Bangtan. It would make no sense for them to want to reside here. There’s something else they want. We just have to figure out what that is.” Wooyoung has remained silent but finally chimes in. “Guys, we can all theorize what the fuck is going on here later. Right now, we need to get Seonghwa out of here and put some plans in place for leaving the house and such. Mingi and hongjoong can do their digging and if anyone finds anything out maybe we can reconvene. Right now let’s just focus on keeping everyone safe for the moment and once we’ve done that we can worry about the bigger picture.”  
Yeosang and Yunho both look like they want to protest but Seonghwa cuts them off. “Wooyoung is right. We don’t have enough information yet to really have this conversation. I’m going to get my stuff ready, Woo if you could give me that address and the keys, and then we will head out.” He can see Jongho really doesn’t like the idea of him being gone, and comes to comfort him. “Hey, it’s only temporary. I’ll be back soon, we just have to get this bangtan bullshit squared away. Also in the meantime I need you to stay in the house as much as possible. I don’t want to risk them finding out about you.” He turns to you, “that goes for you as well. You and Wooyoung need to keep out of sight. If you need anything Yunho, Yeosang, and San will be here but please, don’t do anything reckless. These are not people you want to mess with.” You nod and pull him into a tight hug. “Please stay safe. I know you’re worried about us, but we’re worried about you too. Remember to check in.” He smiles and promises he will.

Mingi and hongjoong leave with him, promising to check in with you as they find out more information. Then just like that they are gone. The house gets really quiet in their absence. There is a heaviness in the air. A lot of things came to light tonight. Wooyoung May have been targeted. Someone might be watching you. Seonghwa could be in danger. There’s pressure on you and Wooyoung not to be seen. It’s all honestly giving you a headache. You head up stairs and don’t even hear Wooyoung follow you. He closes you into your little room and you are instantly comforted by his presence. You turn to look at him from the other side of the bed. “If I take this off can you behave?” He smirks. “Well I mean as much as I’d love to pick up where we left off, I think the whole everyone being in danger thing has sort of killed my vibe.” You nod in agreement and shimmy out of your dress, left in nothing but a black lace thong. You can see him bite his lip as he looks you over but he keeps to his word, following your lead and undressing himself. You both crawl into bed, drained from the night's events. You both have trouble sleeping but you take comfort in feeling the other there. You can sense his unease. He holds you close all night, periodically kissing your head or playing with your hair. You want to ask what’s wrong but at the same time you already know. You feel it too. The heaviness in the pit of your stomach tells you this is going to get worse before it gets better. If only you knew just how bad it could get.


	10. Once bitten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! I want to apologize in advance, my updates are kind of all over the place due to my work schedule but I’m going to try really hard to stick with it!

Seonghwa  
Seonghwa opens his eyes to the harsh grey light from the window, flinching a little at the brightness. He sits up, rubbing at his face and yawning before slowly meandering to the shower. It’s been about a week since he banished himself to Wooyoung’s small apartment and while the space is nice, cozy even, it’s still not home. He sheds his sleepwear and eyes himself in the mirror absently, almost not even noticing his own reflection. It’s been cold since he arrived here, fitting as it matches the icy dread that now seems to live permanently in his veins. He starts the shower, making it as hot as he can stand. Though it scalds his skin, the burn is welcome as it seems to thaw away the frost he feels coats his insides. New information has been scarce. It’s hard for him to do anything because he knows jazmine can track his every move, so he has to leave the bulk of the digging to hongjoong and Mingi, who despite their best efforts aren’t sure where to look for their answers. Hongjoong stayed a couple nights at the house, trying to maybe see if he could find Who’s been shadowing the others but he found no trace of anyone. Mingi has been checking out the surrounding towns, hoping to find some trace of where the group might be based.   
His mind wanders to the faint memory of a girl. She had dark hair, and a loud laugh. Daddy issues type, made her easy prey. He only remembers bits and pieces as he was intoxicated and a bit hazy at the time, but he’s pretty sure he had her right there in the parking lot. He made it a good experience for her though. Now that he’s fed he starts to worry about some of the others. Yunho, San, and Yeosang will be fine but with Wooyoung and Jongho in hiding he worries about their physical condition. The others will be able to bring them Back small prey but he knows it won’t be enough. He doesn’t like the idea of them being weakened right now, especially since they still haven’t figured out who’s been watching them. If something were to happen… He’s so lost in his frustration he lashes out without thinking, slamming his fists against the shower wall. There is a sharp crack and he sees that he’s shattered several of the wall tiles. He will have to replace those before he goes.   
He turns off the water and dries off, still slightly agitated. As he starts to get dressed, Mingi shows up as if on cue. “I need you or hongjoong to go check on the others.” Before Mingi can even reply hongjoong appears out of nowhere. “I was already planning a visit, did you have a message for them?” Seonghwa looks around trying to figure out how hongjoong even got in the apartment but decides it’s not important. “No, I'm just worried about woo and Jongho. I need you to make sure they are eating, or at least trying to. Think of it as sort of a wellness check.” Hongjoong nods. “Ah, yes I’ll check up on them. Maybe since this is taking longer then we had anticipated I can help them plan out how to feed. Unless they have already figured something out. I’ll watch out for them.” Seonghwa nods, still looking very much in his own head which concerns hongjoong. “Mingi, I think Seonghwa needs some distraction. He’s clearly starting to lose it a bit being trapped in this little room all the time. Maybe give him some homework, we can make use of him.” Seonghwa smiles faintly and nods, grateful for the distraction. Mingi pulls up a map of the area and sits Seonghwa down in front of it. ‘‘This is everywhere they possibly could be hiding. You know them better than any of us ever will. Just look at it. See if you can figure out where they might go or what would be of interest to them. It’s a lot of area to cover and while I’ve been checking some of the major sites out I'm sort of in the dark here.” Seonghwa nods, and goes to fetch himself some coffee, excited to maybe be able to help. Hongjoong nods and bids his goodbyes to the others. “I’ll let you know how things are at home.” 

Hongjoong  
Hongjoong is nervous. He has a plan. A good plan, but a somewhat dangerous plan if things go badly. He already knows Wooyoung’s not going to like this. He will take some convincing. He’s hoping that maybe Yeosang will be willing to take his side but he can’t count on that for certain. But he knows, he could find some answers if this goes well. He parks a good mile away from the house and walks the rest of the way, keeping an eye out for any potential followers. He scans the woods carefully, looking for anything out of place but sees and hears nothing out of the ordinary. They must be alone for now. Everyone goes rigid when he enters the house, instantly entering fight mode but when they see it’s him they look relieved. Yunho comes to greet him and calls for San and Wooyoung who are upstairs. Once everyone is gathered he starts. “So first up, Seonghwa sends you his best. He’s fine, if not going a little stir crazy. We haven’t really found any information yet.” He can see everyone visibly deflate a little. “Hey, I said yet. I have an idea. However, I will say there is some risk involved.” His eyes shift to meet Wooyoung’s. “I need you to hear me out first okay?” Woo already looks ready to argue. Great. As much as he loves and respects his adoptive little brother, he can be a pain in the ass sometimes. He warily lifts his eyes to look at you, and instantly he can see it click for Wooyoung that he’s not going to like this. However, he’s impressed when instead of telling him to fuck off, he waits to let him explain.  
“Okay look, I know that you guys are supposed to be in hiding, however, in order for this to work I’m going to need her help.” Wooyoung starts to protest but San lifts a hand to silence him. “I want to find out if you were really targeted. If there was a plan in place, I know someone who might know about it. Someone close to bangtan. I plan to pay them a visit and see if maybe they know more about their motives or anything really. At this point any information is good information. But, it would really help my case if I brought her Woo. My friend, he has a soft spot for girls. If I bring her and let her run the conversation it’ll be harder for him to say no to her then it will be for him to say no to me. This is the best chance we’ve got right now.” He eyes you warily. He can see you’re terrified. You don't know what sort of situation he’s putting you in, and really he can’t be sure either. “Would you be willing to do it?” You sit for a minute, frozen in thought. He glances at Wooyoung who’s watching you clearly distressed. You take a breath and nod, sending Wooyoung into a panic. “Babe no, you can’t do this. It’s insane. We don’t even know where he’s taking you. What if something happens?” You shake your head which silences him. Hongjoong admires the level of respect Wooyoung seems to hold for you. He never belittles or speaks over you.  
“Wooyoung, I have to go. We need to know why they’re here and if they came after you for a reason. Otherwise we might not ever come out of hiding.” He shakes his head and pleads, “please don’t do this.” You stand and come to stand before hongjoong. “I will go. I’m willing to trust you on this. But on one condition.” He nods signaling for you to continue. “I want Yeosang and Yunho to come with me.” He looks to the others to see how they feel about it. Both Yeosang and Yunho look willing, and actually Wooyoung even looks a little more at ease. Jongho, who’s been quiet until now chimes in. “If something goes bad, you’ll need the numbers.” San nods in agreement. Hongjoong is relieved. That went over far better than he planned. “Done.” Everyone looks solemn but they all know it’s for the best. Now for his other order of business. He looks carefully at Wooyoung and Jongho. Wooyoung looks pretty rough, his eyes excessively dark and his skin pale. Jongho looks even worse, dark black circles starting to form around his eyes. “You guys haven’t been eating have you?” He asks, looking from one to the other. Jongho answers for them. “The others have brought us back some little things but nothing substantial.” Yunho continues the thought. “If we are being watched it would look suspicious to be bringing big game back with us, so we have to stick to things we can easily sneak inside like squirrels and rabbits.” Hongjoong nods, thinking. He has another unfavorable idea. 

Wooyoung  
Absolutely not. Wooyoung stares at his brother in disbelief. Is he really asking him to do this? “Look Woo, we don’t have a lot of options right now. I know this isn’t ideal…” he trails off waiting to see if he’s going to explode but at this point it would be a waste of energy. He knows in his heart joong is right but he also knows things could still go horribly wrong. Defeated, he sinks down into the chair behind him, head in his hands. “Why are you doing this to me?” He might sound whiny to the others but he doesn’t care. He feels your hand on his shoulder, soft and warm. “Hey, it’s okay, I’ll be okay. Hongjoong is right, I’m the best option—” He looks up at you angrily, cutting off your train of thought. “Don’t do this. Please don’t be on his side right now.” Your eyes are apologetic and he instantly feels bad for being angry with you. He can see how desperately you want to help. He’s completely at a loss. “Yunho?” He looks at his elder pleadingly hoping there might be some other way, but he can see it on his face. He agrees with hongjoong. Jongho speaks from behind him. “Look, hyung I won’t do this without your consent. I understand this is hard for you. If you aren’t okay with it we will find another way.” You shake your head standing between the both of them. “No. Jongho you have to eat. I understand this is a weird situation but it would be stupid of us not to do this. I’m a perfectly viable food source right here under your roof. Woo I know there’s risks but I accept that. I trust that both of you will be able to handle this.” He shakes his head. “It’s not about that. I can’t run the risk of you getting addicted to this shit.”   
There is a heavy silence. Finally, Yeosang cautiously speaks up. “What if…. What if you don’t have to bite her Wooyoung? What if we got the blood another way?” You immediately understand and nod excitedly. “I could just cut my hand or something and drain some blood for you guys! Would that work?” You look around at the others hoping for some approval. Hongjoong interjects. “That would honestly be a brilliant idea if we weren’t going to be in a nest of other vampires tomorrow. While that would work, I don’t feel comfortable taking you in there with an open wound somewhere. That would just be irresponsible of me. I’m already putting you in danger, just out of respect for Wooyoung alone I couldn’t put you even more at risk.” Yeosang nods, seeing the others point. Wooyoung glares down at the floor. “So I don’t have a choice. If we do this we are both going to have to bite her?” Hongjoong nods solemnly. Wooyoung turns and looks back at Jongho. The poor kid looks awful. It pains him to see their youngest look so drained. By tomorrow he will only be worse. His eyes are already starting to blacken underneath, his skin is pale white… he looks dead. Wooyoung doesn’t like to think of them as dead, or undead creatures because ultimately, their hearts still beat and their humanity is retained. But right now Jongho looks worse than he did when Seonghwa brought him here. He literally looks worse right now then he did when he was actually dead. It breaks Wooyoung’s heart. And still, even in such terrible conditions this kid still insists he will be fine if Wooyoung doesn’t want to do it.   
He eyes him carefully. He knows Jongho won’t hurt you. He also knows that Jongho isn’t the bite that will put you at risk. He is. He sighs and looks up at you, and then back to Jongho. “You need to feed, she’s right. I can’t deny you that.” He can see Jongho sag a little in relief knowing he gets to feed. “I’ll only take what I need,I’ll be careful with her I promise you.” He takes his hand and squeezes it reassuringly. You look so happy to be able to help, he feels bad for denying you. But he knows in his heart if he feeds on you he might not be able to stop the endorphin rush. He also knows it’ll be just as easy for him to get hooked on you as It will be for you to get hooked on him. If that happens, it’ll destroy you both. You’re looking expectantly at him, hoping he will concede but he’s still undecided. He just nods and moves out of the way so you can sit before Jongho. You Reach out and take his hand. “If you think this’ll bother you to watch, you can go upstairs. I understand. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” He shakes his head gestures for you to go ahead.   
Jongho sits you on his lap and begins to explain what’s going to happen. “So, it’s going to hurt but only for a quick second I promise. Then I’m going to numb you. I won’t take a lot. You might feel a little light headed after, but that should be your only side effect. Okay?” You nod. He looks over your shoulder at Wooyoung, giving him one last chance to object before they proceed. Instead of stopping him, he decides the best thing he can do is be there for you. He can sense your fear. Even though he knows you’d trust Jongho with your life he knows you’re still scared. How could you not be? It’s your first bite. He stands behind you and takes your hand, then nods at Jongho to start. You look up at him nervously as Jongho gently moves your hair out of the way of your throat. He thinks idly to himself how beautiful you are, even in this moment of uncertainty. Jongho asks if you’re ready and you nod, eyes never leaving Wooyoung’s. Without any delay, Jongho’s fangs extend and he punctures your neck in one quick fluid motion. You squeeze Wooyoung’s hand hard as you gasp out in pain. Almost instantly though, you relax. Now he’s got you numb. It only takes him a minute to get what he needs and as quickly as it started he pulls back, fangs retracting back into his mouth. He runs his tongue lightly over the punctures to numb and seal them and it’s done. Wooyoung looks down at your face gauging your response.   
You seem okay, a little dazed but that’s to be expected. Jongho takes your face in his hands to look at you. “You okay?” You nod slowly, your body still processing. He kisses your forehead lightly and looks up at Wooyoung, gesturing that he can take you. He scoops you up in his arms and takes you up stairs, telling you to sleep it off. He comes back down to find that the blood has already begun to do its job, Jongho looks better already. By the morning he will be back to normal. Upon seeing this he can feel his body respond, bloodlust surfacing a little. He does his best to swallow it back. Jongho comes and apologizes, even though he has nothing to apologize for. Woo waves him off and pours himself a drink. After everything that’s happened today he needs it. Hongjoong disappears into the office to make some calls and arrange this meeting for tomorrow. Just thinking about it makes his stomach turn. He doesn’t like that he can’t go with you. Luckily Yunho and Yeosang will be there but it’s still not the same. Tomorrow is going to be a long ass day. He feels a familiar tap on his shoulder. He looks up at San and he gestures at him to follow, so he rises with his drink and follows him upstairs. They sit in sans room, as they have a million times before. When things get tough, San is always his shoulder to lean on.   
“I can tell it’s bothering you.” San says softly. He looks up as him questioningly, taking a sip of his drink. “Jongho fed on your girlfriend. You have every right to feel a little weird about it.” Wooyoung shakes his head. “You saw him San, he looked terrible. I couldn’t just let him starve. Our situation is fucked up right now. That’s not his fault. I can’t be mad at him.” San shakes his head. “I’m not saying you’re mad at him. We all know it had to happen, in the end it’s good that it did. But I know you Woo, I know that underneath it’s eating at you that he’s tasted her and you haven’t.” He’s right. Wooyoung sighs. “They never tell you how hard loving a human is. I didn’t realize how badly I’d want to…” He shakes his head and throws back the rest of his drink. “What’s stopping you then? Are you just afraid she’ll get addicted?” He runs his hands through his hair, clearly stressed just thinking about it. “I’m scared I’ll get addicted. Like, I know it’s a risk for her, but at the same time what if once I get a taste of her I want it just as bad as she does. At that point what even are we?” San nods, but looks conflicted. “I still think you should try it.” Wooyoung’s eyes widen and he turns to argue but San cuts him off. “You don’t look much better than Jongho did Woo. You need the blood, I know you do. You put on a good front but who knows how long we are gonna have to live like this? And she loves you. She loves you, and she’s willing. She wants to help you. I know you’re nervous but you don’t really have another option right now.” Wooyoung hangs his head and sighs. “I know. I’m just scared.” San shakes his head and smiles. “You know what’s amazing though? She isn’t. She is one hundred percent ready to give you whatever she can. It’s beautiful really. I envy you. I’ve never met anyone who’s loved me like that.” Wooyoung stays silent. He doesn’t know what to say or what to do. He just knows he loves you, and he doesn’t want to do anything that might compromise you. “You should go to her.” San says quietly. “I’m sure she’s missing you by now.” 

***  
You wake from a hazy sleep, a bit confused. It takes a moment for your eyes to focus but when they do, you see Wooyoung sitting at the foot of the bed staring at you lovingly. “How are you feeling?” He asks quietly, reaching out to rest a hand on your thigh. You have to think about it. It takes you a solid minute to remember what happened. Your hand automatically goes to your throat and you wince a little at the soreness of where Jongho bit you. “Just tired.” You say, placing your hand over his and giving your best reassuring smile. He nods. “That’s normal. By morning though you should feel fine.” You sit up further, wanting to be closer to him. He knows that’s what you’re trying to do, so to put less strain on you he climbs up onto the bed to come lay next to you. You immediately snuggle up on his chest, planting a soft kiss on his lips. He returns it, and smiles at you softly. He looks exhausted. You know he’s stressing himself out and while you want to help him you know he won’t let you. As if he’s reading your mind he speaks. “I know you want to help. I’m going to let you, but I think we should wait until after you get back tomorrow. That way we will have our intel and can figure out a better long term plan and stuff. Plus it’ll give you more time to recover. Okay?” He kisses your forehead. You nod, already starting to doze off again. You had no idea being fed on would be so draining. You are somewhat grateful for it though. If you weren’t so exhausted, you know you’d keep yourself up all night worrying about tomorrow. That night you dream about seonghwa. You hope in your heart he’s doing okay. With any luck this meeting tomorrow will get you closer to a reunion, but that remains to be seen. Part of you knows that this meetup could easily be the end for you. All you can do is hope that trusting Hongjoong was the right thing to do.


	11. Old friends

You wake in the morning to find that Wooyoung is already up. He tries to get you to eat something but you have no interest in food right now. You are too nervous about what’s to come. When you head down stairs Hongjoong is waiting for you. “They know we are coming but I didn’t specify when, it’ll give us some time to get ready. But we should leave soon. We are crossing state lines.” You nod and head back upstairs to get some clothes. “Oh, do me a favor?” Hongjoong says, stopping you. “Wear something pretty.”  
After you dress yourself up, Yeosang agrees to let you borrow a scarf to cover the bite mark on your neck. It makes you self conscious knowing it’s there, but you don’t regret lending yourself to Jongho. He looks like himself again and that in itself is enough for you. Wooyoung comes down stairs to see you off. “Please be careful. If something happens call me.” You nod and wrap your arms around him. He just holds you for a minute, you can feel he’s as nervous about this as you are. Yunho and Yeosang come to escort you to the car, each one blocking you from a different angle, keeping you hidden to any lurking eyes. Hongjoong reaches the car last. He sits in the back with you, knowing you probably have a lot of questions. The beginning of the drive is silent, no one really knowing what to say, then Finally, Hongjoong speaks. “Thank you, for doing this…” he says quietly. You nod but decide this is your opening. “Your friend… you said he has a soft spot for girls. What does that mean exactly?” Yeosang perks up in the passenger's seat, also curious. “When I said that I didn’t mean in general. I meant for human girls. He used to be in love with one. I know you’ll remind him of her. I think that will help me get answers. I don’t want to play that card unless I have to, but I know if you ask him for certain information he will give it to you.” You nod as you think this over. “So do you know the whole clan or is it just one friend?” He shakes his head. “I know them all. This used to be my clan.”  
This takes you by surprise, and apparently Yeosang and Yunho too. Yeosang has turned entirely around in his seat, and you see Yunho’s eyes flit back to Hongjoong in the mirror. He sighs, knowing he now has to explain. “Is it safe for you to go back there? It was my understanding you guys were cast out or something.” Hongjoong gives a sad smile. “Not exactly. Mingi and I were raised in this coven, And relations were always good. The reason I know they will have answers is that several members of bangtan are best friends with some of my former brothers. That’s how I know seonghwa. We all came up together.” Everyone in the car is enthralled by Hongjoongs origin story. You can see in Yeosangs face that some pieces are falling into place for him. He must not know much of joong’s back story either. Hongjoong continues, still not even looking up. “When things went bad with Seonghwa, we knew about it. We probably knew more about it then he did at the time, and I always felt guilty afterwards that I didn’t warn him. When seonghwa left I asked our leader if we could take him in, but he was a coward.” He shakes his head angrily. “He didn’t want to step on bangtans toes and said it was none of our concern. That didn’t sit right with Mingi and I So we chose to leave. Our departure was amicable, and honestly it killed us to go, but Hwa needed us and we couldn’t leave him alone. Not after all they put him through.” You have a new level of respect for  
Hongjoong. You always assumed he and Mingi were taken in due to bad behavior but it couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s why Seonghwa relies on them so heavily. They were his family when no one else was.  
“So, who are we going to talk to?” You ask now more ready to tackle the task ahead. “We are meeting with Jackson, but that doesn’t mean others won’t be there. He should have the best information because he’s close with bangtans leader, Namjoon.” All these names are foreign to you. It’s hard for you to wrap your head around how you will be useful to this conversation at all. “So what exactly do you need me for?” You ask, trying to hide your internal frustration. “With any luck, nothing. He doesn’t even know who you are, just that I’m bringing a friend with me.”

Seonghwa

Its been hours, and still no new leads. His eyes hurt from staring at this map, and his head hurts from puzzling over why the fuck bangtan’s here. It doesn’t add up. He can’t figure out why they would want to come here. Maybe Namjoon or Seokjin have friends he’s not aware of? After all they are pretty ancient, god only knows how many connections they have all over the world. He doesn’t remember them mentioning anything though… he’s been wracking his brain for a day and a half and really has no idea why they suddenly want to be here. He decides he needs some fresh air and some time away to clear his head. He decides to go on a run. He heads to the bedroom, going to change into some warmer clothes for going outside. With any luck mingi will be back by the time he returns. He had sent him off to a spot up in the mountains where he thought bangtan could be hiding, but the more he thought about it after he left the less likely he thought that would be. He pulls his shirt over his head, and catches a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror, only he’s not alone. “Hey baby, I’ve missed you.” 

*** 

You pull up to this massive mansion, high up in the mountains. If you saw it from a distance you’d probably guess it was a ski lodge or something based on its location. There is a thin layer of snow on the ground, but judging by the harsh grey skies things are probably going to get pretty nasty up here soon. When you all step out of the car, hongjoong has a plan. “Only her and I are going in.” He says, to which both Yeosang and Yunho strongly object. He silences them with a sharp glance. “Yunho, wait out here in the car in case we have to make a quick getaway for whatever reason. Yeosang, I want you on the perimeter in case we have visitors. The last thing I need is unexpected company while I’m digging for intel.” While the other two seemingly understand the plan, the dark expressions on their faces clearly advertise their dislike of it. Hongjoong sighs. “Guys, nothing will happen to her I promise. Even if something got ugly in there I’d protect her with my life. I promised Wooyoung she’d be safe and she is.” He brings his gaze to meet yours. “I promise.” You swallow and nod. Yunho gives you a long look, and then heads back toward the car. As you turn to follow Hongjoong inside, Yeosang takes your hand and turns you to face him. “I’ll be right out here okay? Don’t hesitate to call for me if something happens. I’ll hear you and I’ll be there in seconds. Please be careful in there.” You nod and squeeze his hand before running up to meet Hongjoong at the door.  
He knocks and you can hear the hollow echoing through the house. After a moment of tense silence, the large heavy door creaks open to reveal a man. He’s slight in build, thin and tall. He is beautiful, reminding you of some kind of Victorian fairytale the same way yeosang does. His honey eyes are bright against his pale skin and shaggy dark hair. He smiles big when he recognizes hongjoong, pulling him into a tight embrace. “Its good to see you little brother. Jackson is waiting for you.” As he turns to lead you both inside, he appears to take his first notice of you. He stops and eyes you for a minute, taking you in. “Who’s this?” He asks, never taking his eyes off you. “A friend.” Hongjoong responds, to which he receives a raised eyebrow in return. “Jackson’s meeting is with both of us.” He explains. While you can tell the other vampire finds this odd, he doesn’t question further. He leads you inside the lavish house and quickly leads you up a staircase to the right, leaving you no real time to take in your surroundings. Smart play on his part. He leads you to a cozy little den where another man waits, scotch in hand.  
He stands upon your entry and smiles, waving you both further into the room. “Thank you yugyeom. Would you mind giving us the room? We have some business to attend to.” Yugyeom nods and disappears from the doorway almost instantly. Jackson embraces Hongjoong enthusiastically, you can already feel that they were close. They exchange pleasantries and then Jackson’s eyes fall on you. His expression falters for just a second but it’s there. Now you know why Hongjoong brought you here. You must look like her. He looks like he’s seen a ghost. He reaches out a hand slowly. “Hello. I’m Jackson. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” You politely greet him and shake his hand. You and Hongjoong take a seat opposite him. They speak idly for a little while, just catching up, then Jackson finally says what Hongjoong has been waiting for. “I’m terribly sorry about your loss.” He says. Hongjoong smiles absently, studying the top of the desk. “There’s been no loss Jackson. That’s why I’ve called this meeting. You’re the only person I trust around here and I want to know what you know.” Jackson’s eyes widen at this revelation. “Joong you know I don’t like to pick sides…” he nods. “I know that, but I really need your help.” Jackson stares at him for a moment and then sighs. “I do know a little bit of information that might help you.”  
A huge weight is lifted off both of your shoulders knowing Jackson is going to cooperate. “Bangtan seems to be going through a… transitional period. Personally, I think Namjoon might have a mutiny on his hands. I’ve noticed he and Seokjin have been purposely distancing themselves from the rest, almost like they intend to leave. He says that some of the younger ones have started going a little roguish. They don’t listen to reason. They act out. They are becoming more and more unstable and uncontrollable every day.” Hongjoong seems to find this interesting. “So what you’re saying is, whoever put the hit out on Wooyoung, Jin and Joon weren’t involved?” Jackson nods. “I don’t think so.” Without even thinking you speak. “Then you have to have some idea of who was behind it then do you not?” Jackson raises his eyebrows, probably feeling a little insulted that the little human girl just addressed him that way but you don’t care. You can tell you’ve pissed Hongjoong off though. Oops. Jackson leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. “What business is it of yours?” Hongjoong goes to speak and cut you out of the conversation but you talk over him, eyes never leaving Jackson’s. If he brought you along to play the ex girlfriend card you might as well play it. “I love him. He’s my business. I need to know who’s trying to kill him, Jackson.” His eyes narrow. “So you’re his mate, or…?” Hongjoong answers this time. “Not officially but yes.”  
You continue on the back of his statement. “Hongjoong tells me you’d know all about that. What was her name?” His gaze softens just at the thought of her. “Eliza. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved. And the only one I ever will.” He reaches up and touches the pendant around his neck softly. Must be hers. You can tell she still causes him pain. “What happened to her?” He pauses, contemplating if he really wants to tell you or not. “She was a human. She died. Or rather she was killed. We were into a lot of trouble back then. One of our enemies decided to use her as a bargaining chip. We gave them everything they wanted, I did everything I could to get her back.” The further into the story he gets, the softer he speaks. You can visibly see his heartbreak. “But at the end of it all, when we met up to take her back, he killed her. Murdered her right in front of me. I tried to save her. I tried to make her what we are…. but she didn’t make it.” Watching him recount it brings tears to your eyes but you don’t have time to be emotional now. “If someone had information that would’ve warned you, that could’ve saved her… Jackson I need to know everything. I can’t lose him.”  
Before he can speak a soft voice from the back of the room startles you. “Well actually,” yugyeom starts, emerging from the shadows. “I might be able to help you out more than he can on this one.” When he sees the alarm on your face he offers you a gentle smile. “Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear your predicament.” You can tell Hongjoong doesn’t like this, he’s watching yugyeom very carefully. The other vampire continues, ignoring hongjoongs distrustful gaze. “First thing you need to know is, you have nothing to fear. The hit was put out on San, not woo.” You feel a wave of relief but immediately your heart drops. He switches his focus to Hongjoong. “You guys were being scoped out for a while and honestly, no one even realized Wooyoung would be there that day. It was a truly unfortunate accident, wrong place wrong time I suppose.” Hongjoong is starting to get angry now. “But killing San wouldn’t have been?” Hongjoong asks, voice rising. Yugyeom backs down a little, making a small submissive gesture to Hongjoong. “Not what I meant, I apologize. You have to understand I’m getting this information from the other side of the fence. So I’m telling you what he told me.” You almost ask but Hongjoong beats you to it. “Who’s he?” Yugyeom shakes his head. “I’m not disclosing personal details. I’m giving you the information you need, but I’m not choosing a side. No one gets thrown under the bus.” You can see Hongjoong still fuming so instead of letting him instigate a fight you start digging for further information. “Why was San the target?” He looks relieved to be speaking to you and not Hongjoong. “San is an important piece of your coven. He’s the glue that holds you all together. Everyone loves him. He would be the most devastating one to lose without completely dissolving the group. He’s not detrimental the way Seonghwa would be.” You nod, seeing the angle bangtan must’ve been taking. They just want everyone out of the way, the goal isn’t to destroy the coven, it's just to weaken it. Yugyeom continues. “It would make no sense to target Wooyoung. He’s hardly there, and as outsiders bangtan had no idea what his relationship with the rest was even like at this point due to his absence. They think he’s dead. They know he got attacked and they don’t realize he made it out so be careful. Don’t reveal him unless you have to.”  
You are frustrated. “What do they want?” Yugyeom shrugs. “While my contact is important in what’s going on, I don’t think he’s the one with the plan. I think he’s being manipulated. Someone has a plan. But that’s as much as I know.” Hongjoong finally speaks. “So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Jackson answers this one. “Best thing for you guys to do is to continue to lay low. They are probably still watching you. They will choose their moment to reveal themselves. You just have to wait them out.” It’s not the answer either of you wanted to hear but for now it sounds like he’s right. You have a long drive back so you both rise and say your goodbyes. You thank yugyeom for the extra information and he nods solemnly. “Watch your backs.” When you get outside, Yeosang is waiting impatiently, looking for you. When he sees you he sags in relief. You know he’s going to be glued to your side for the rest of this trip and you take comfort in that. He and Hongjoong switch spots for the ride back and you both recount everything you learned to the others on the drive. After everyone is caught up, you feel suddenly very tired. All the excitement has probably made it difficult for your body to recuperate from being fed on last night. Yeosang can see you’re exhausted and pulls you over to lay against him, giving you a little spot to nap and hopefully get back to normal before tonight. After all, you intend to feed Wooyoung later, you are going to need all the rest you can get.


	12. Feed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for my long absence, I was busy dying of covid. Please be careful out there guys :(

Yeosang wakes you gently and you groan, not wanting to open your eyes. “We’re home love.” He coos, moving some hair from your eyes. You sit up and squint into the evening light groggily. When you reach the door Wooyoung is there waiting for you. Before you can even make it inside he pulls you into an embrace. Clearly he hasn’t relaxed since you left. Once you all make it inside Hongjoong calls a meeting. Everyone gathers, and he begins to explain to them what you found out. “So, we were told our best play right now is to wait it out and let them come to us. I don’t know how long that will take.” Everyone nods solemnly. You chime in. “Something else we found out, there was a plan to kill one of you but the hit wasn’t out on Wooyoung. Their intended target was san.” Sans eyes widen and he looks around the room. Wooyoung asks the question for him. “But why?” Hongjoong explains. “He’s the most devastating blow besides Seonghwa. It doesn’t sound personal.” San snorts at that. “Oh, what a relief, I was worried bangtan might be mad at me.” He spits sarcastically. Woo turns to him, irritated. “Can you not right now?” San turns to face him looking as angry as you’ve ever seen him. “You don’t get to act all cool and collected now that the heat is off you Wooyoung. Apparently bangtan made the executive decision that I should be the one to die. Excuse me if I’m a little upset about it.” Wooyoung takes a step toward him, heated. “You know San, that would be relevant, except I think you’re forgetting a crucial detail here. I’m the one who almost died, remember? Not you. So take your fucking pity party somewhere else. Ultimately, you aren’t in hiding. You aren’t—” you’ve had enough. “Both Of you stop it! Now! What is this solving?” You are standing between them acting as a barrier. It’s unreal, out of all the moments they could choose to act like children they chose this one. They are still staring each other down, but both grumble out an apology to you and take a step back.   
Hongjoong looks mildly impressed with how willingly the boys listen to you. The rest are just staring wide eyed in the wake of their exchange. You gather from everyone’s shock woo and San don’t argue much. To see them almost go to blows must be troubling to the rest. Hongjoong continues, hoping to distract everyone from the drama. “Anyway the rest isn’t really relevant to you guys but it could be to Seonghwa. Tomorrow I’m going to see what his take is on some of the politics involved. Right now though there is a bigger problem. Wooyoung, you need to feed. I don’t know how you’re still standing, you look terrible. I know you’re really against this, and trust me I understand, don’t think I’m ignoring your concerns, but you can’t go on like this. I think we can all agree, yes?” Everyone else nods. Yunho, who’s been pretty quiet till now speaks up. “I know what you’re afraid of. Trust me, I do. So let’s put some precautions in place, will that make you feel better?” He nods. “So how about, we let you guys do your thing, however you decide you want to do it, and then one of us will stay with her and one of us can take Wooyoung.” You are a little alarmed at the plan. “Wait why do we need to be separated?” San explains. “So not only is it possible that you can become addicted to the bite but he’s at risk also. So basically what is going to happen is, the endorphins will be triggered and flood your system which obviously will have an effect on you but you have to remember he’s drinking your blood. So he’s going to be jacked up on your endorphins too. You are both going to feel really good. Dangerously good. It makes it hard to stop. And even harder not to come back for more. That’s why you don’t feed on the one you love. When it’s someone random you aren’t worried about overdoing it. If you kill her it’s fine, you don’t even know her.”   
“Jesus San.” Yeosang says, not used to him being so insensitive. “No he's right.” Yunho says looking at you now. “As your friend I’m not going to sugar coat it. It's just as addicting for us as it is for you. If you wanted to drain a human this would be the easiest way. There’s no resistance, and the blood rush you get is…. unbelievable.” Yeosang looks intrigued. “Is it really that good?” He asks softly. Wooyoung raises his eyebrows. “You’ve never done it?” He shakes his head. “No, I just stun mine. Never saw the need to go further. Plus you know I don’t like to kill…” Yunho answers his question. “Honestly, it’s better than you’re even imagining it is. This shit is powerful.” Jongho looks to just be soaking all this in. You imagine he’s still too new to have experienced a lot of this yet. “But wait,” you say turning to woo, “you’ve done this before right?” He nods. “Have you ever killed someone doing it?” He shakes his head. “So why am I different? If you’ve done this other times and been fine why do I pose more risk?” Yunho looks like he might answer but Wooyoung lifts a hand and tells you himself. “It’s different because with a one night stand, I would go home with her, feed on her while I was fucking her and then leave after she passed out. With you, I feed on you and I still wake up right next to you. If I wanted to go back for seconds I could. That’s the hard part. Once I get a taste of you I’m going to have to see you constantly afterward. That’s why they want to split us up. They are making sure I can handle it. So someone will stay with me tonight and make sure I come down okay, and someone will be there to guard you from me if I have a lapse in judgement. Obviously, I would never come at you with the intent to hurt you, but it’s easy to tell yourself ‘oh a little more won’t hurt her…. oh I’ll just take a bit more… and before you know it I’ve sucked you dry and you let me do it. We are taking extreme measures to make absolutely certain nothing goes bad that’s all.”   
You didn’t realize it was going to get this complicated, but at the same time it has to be done. Hongjoong speaks from behind you all. “I’m going to stay here tonight as well, so you will have me to turn to if something doesn’t go according to plan.” Him being the eldest of them looks to reassure everyone. San raises a hand slightly, “I’ll take Woo for the night.” His earlier hostility seems to have disappeared which you are grateful for. Yunho speaks to you, “who would you like to stay with tonight?” You look from face to face. There really isn’t a bad option but you know who would bring you the most comfort. “Jongho. If he doesn’t mind.” He smiles sweetly and takes your hand. “Not at all. I’d be more than happy to take care of you.” You smile, happy he’s going to be there. He looks to Wooyoung wearily. “Are you good with that hyung?” Wooyoung looks at you for a moment then nods and gives his blessing. Hongjoong stands. “Okay. We will give you two some privacy then. No rush. I was going to take the rest, minus Jongho of course, out to check our perimeters and maybe discuss how we can up security around here.” He looks to the others and they nod. Yeosang gives you a little hug as he walks past, and whispers “Same as last time, if you need me call me.” You aren’t really sure what he’s protecting you from but you appreciate him anyway. The rest shuffle their way out the door, leaving just the two of you and Jongho. You can tell it’s a little awkward for the youngest being the only one left in the house. He awkwardly makes his way across the ground floor and busies himself making tea, as far from where you and Wooyoung will be as he can get.   
You aren’t sure how to proceed. Your eyes scan over Wooyoung’s expression trying to read him but you can’t really get a good handle on how he might be feeling. It makes you sad. You’ve never struggled to understand Wooyoung in all the years you’ve known him. He’s always been forthcoming with his feelings with you, but right now you can feel a wall going up. You want to touch him but you don’t know if you’re permitted to right now so you just force yourself up the stairs without so much as looking at him. It feels wrong but at the same time whatever weird place he’s in is making you feel like you have to brace yourself. You sit back as far as you can on the bed, letting the darkness shroud you. He enters a minute later. Everything feels really heavy. Just looking at him right now is making you want to cry, and the silence feels like it’s crushing the air from your lungs. You want to speak but your voice is frozen in your throat. You’ve never been more nervous in your life and it’s breaking you that you feel this way about him right now. He looks sicker than you’ve ever seen him. His golden glow, completely snuffed out. His skin is pale and translucent as paper. His eyes glow a soulless black. You can see the spidery silhouette of his veins creeping down his neck, beneath his eyes, even across his hands. He looks like cracking marble. He finally speaks. “You ready?”  
You take a deep breath and you nod. Against your will, a single tear starts it’s way down your cheek. At first he doesn’t notice, until it catches the light of the canopy. He puts his head in his hands and speaks again, gently. “I don’t hate you.” The statement catches you off guard. You are a bit confused. “I know.” You say softly, not really sure where this is headed. He follows with another statement. “I’m not angry with you.” You’re at a loss for words. You haven’t said anything to put him on this tangent, or at least not that you remember, so you aren’t sure at this point what to say. He continues, “I’m stupid, and may have let this progress too far. That’s what you’re sensing. You feel like you’re afraid of me because it’s your natural prey response..” a wave of understanding hits you, along with relief. He looks up at you and nods. “Your body is forcing you to be weary of me. Basically, what happens if you go too long without feeding is your body will hijack you. You go into autopilot mode and it sort of tries to force you to feed. You end up attacking anyone at random, it’s just pure bloodlust. It’s my natural way of trying to keep myself alive. I’m not there yet, but I’m close. That’s why you are having a really weird reaction to my presence right now.” He feebly reaches out a hand to you and you take it without hesitation. “Baby, you can’t do this to yourself.” You say, squeezing his hand a little. He looks up at you and nods. It looks like it’s finally dawning on him how serious he let this get. You crawl toward him on the bed and park yourself before him. He doesn’t seem to know what to do. He’s just looking you over fondly. “How would you prefer to do it?” He asks, holding both of your hands in his lap. “I don’t have to take from your neck, I can pretty much take from wherever you’d like. I know you don’t like the marks. We could do a wrist? Back of your shoulder…” he reaches out and moves your hair over to one side, his eyes trailing over your skin languidly. You shake your head and touch his face gently. “Bite me where he did.”   
You can tell he’s a little surprised, and he looks like he might try to reason with you but you’re hearing none of it. “I belong to you, do I not?” He’s taken aback by your abruptness, stammering out, “this isn’t about that—” But you cut him off. “It is about that. I’m yours. Right?” He nods slowly. “Then why should I give a fuck if they see? They know who I belong to, it's not like it’s a question. Who’s going to have something to say?” He has no answer. You get even closer, sitting right in his lap now, noses almost touching. “So if we are going to do this,” you whisper, taking his hand, “I want you to do it right here.” You bring his hand up to gently caress the tender spot at your throat, making sure not to let on any pain. You can see that just having you this close has an effect on him, but he holds it back well. You lean in and kiss him, and feel so much better when he returns it. He stays close, lips still almost touching, and you can see his fangs starting to retract, probably of their own accord. You can see behind his eyes he’s trying to fight them back but he knows it’s useless. “Hey,” you whisper, his attention snapping back to you. “I love you.” Before he can even answer you pull him into another kiss, deeper on purpose. You know if you can get him going well enough here he physically will have to give in and bite you. You can’t stand to see him suffer like this anymore, but you are going to lure him in as sweetly as possible. He takes the bait, pulling you in even closer. When you feel his fangs slightly scrape your bottom lip you know it’s time. The hand in your hair tugs back slightly, the same way he did the other night. He trails your neck with soft kisses, headed straight for his designated spot. You don’t even get a warning, you just feel him puncture your skin.


	13. Blood/lust

You don’t even feel the sting. A low moan emits from your lips as you feel the toxin hit you like a wave. You can feel it sweep through everything, thrumming in your veins. Now you know why this is so closely affiliated with sex. You feel him tense up as it hits him too. You clutch at each other with bruising strength, needing to be closer, wanting to feel every inch of the other. After the initial rush,he can feel your body relax as you let your high take you. As much as he wants to do the same he knows he must stay alert. He takes just as much as he needs and forces himself away, quickly sealing over his bite with his tongue. He gently lays you back and then clambers to the end of the bed, trying to put as much distance between you as possible. You find that your hands are shaking, and you aren’t sure if that’s just the high or if maybe he took too much but you otherwise feel fine. His breathing is ragged, like that of a cornered animal. You notice his eyes still appear dark and for a moment you’re concerned maybe he didn’t take enough but upon further inspection, you realize it’s just the blood rush. His pupils are dilated to an enormous size and he appears to be trembling too. You sit up slowly, deciding to approach. You gingerly reach out a hand, not wanting to come at him too strong. He hesitates. You can see he’s still getting his bearings. His voice comes out soft and small. “Are you okay?”  
You smile gently at him. “Yeah, I’m okay… what about you? Are you okay?” He scrunches his eyes closed, almost like he’s trying to clear his vision. He straightens up and when his eyes open you can see it. Power is just radiating off of him, you can feel the waves of heat on your skin from three feet away. He’s on a trip you can’t even begin to fathom. His color has returned. He's quite disheveled, though you suspect some of that might be your doing. As you start to move closer you even notice you must’ve torn the front of his shirt. He wasn’t kidding about how intense this was going to be. He also didn’t warn you how badly you were going to want him afterwards. Just the sight of him is making you feral. His long dark hair covers half of his face, his eyes are still dark but now with something new entirely. He looks like an angel after the fall. Your blood still sparkles faintly at his bottom lip and you can’t even describe how hot that is to you right now. Without even thinking, you make your way back to him, pulling him into you, wanting desperately to taste yourself on his lips. He gives into you instantly, practically purring as you lick the remaining blood from his mouth. His fangs have retreated but he’s still looking like he wants to eat you alive. You’re tempted to beg him to do so. Before you know it he’s picked you up, and has you pinned to the mattress beneath him. He holds your hands above your head, giving himself full access to you. You vaguely in the back of your head know this is exactly what you shouldn’t be doing but you are too high on him to act on your better impulses. He’s kissing you like you’re his only source of oxygen, and you snake your legs around his waist, trying to lure him into more. You feel his slight hesitation, knowing he can’t let you go any further. He leans down and licks and sucks at the wound on your neck and you moan out loud when you feel the added jolt of pleasure it provides.  
He stops and meets your eyes, looking just as desperate as you are. “You know we can’t do this…” You whimper beneath him but you know he’s right. He kisses you deeply one more time and then rises to his feet, and you whine as his weight leaves you. “I love you,” He says with a smirk, “but I have to go now.” You giggle and call for Jongho. He appears within seconds. “Is everything okay?” He takes one look at the two of you and can’t help but chuckle. Wooyoung knows he’s aware of what’s happening and just nods and gestures toward you. “She’s yours, I uh—, need to get out of here.” Jongho nods and switches him places. You don’t like the idea of woo being alone so you decide to take Yeosang’s advice. You call out for him, and Jongho looks very confused. However, within a minute you hear the barn door wrench open and footsteps running up the stairs. “What happened? Are you okay?” You explain that you just needed them to come back so San could take Wooyoung and he relaxes visibly. He leaves to go get him, while Jongho sits before you, keeping a sizable space between you and Wooyoung. Even with Jongho in the room right now you can’t help but want to get up and throw yourself at Woo again. Luckily San arrives quickly. He peeks his head in and when he glimpses the wound on your neck, visibly winces. “You okay sweetheart?” He asks sweetly. You nod and smile, trying to signify everything is truly okay and that the bite looks worse than it feels. That seems to satisfy him and he takes Wooyoung off to their room for the night.  
You collapse back against the pillows, trying with all your strength to Will your body to chill out but you physically can’t. You are just going to have to ride it out. Jongho is just watching you, smiling. “So? How was it?” He asks, breaking the silence. You can’t help but let out a blissful little chuckle while trying to articulate your feelings. “Holy shit Jongho…” you trail off and he giggles before demanding to know more. “Hey! You chose me, remember? The least you can do is give me some details. Is it as crazy as they say it is?” You sit up and contemplate the question. “Well….” He’s watching you intently. You know you aren’t in any kind of state to phrase any of this delicately so you just ask him out right, “how tmi do you want to get with this?” He laughs. “I’m not a child, I think I can handle it. I’m just curious. I’ve only ever seen the after effects of this stuff and even then I’ve only seen it on the vampires, never the humans.” You nod. “Well for starters, I definitely understand why it pairs good with sex. It feels like every individual cell in your body is exploding, in the best way possible. It’s overwhelming. If Wooyoung hadn’t been holding me up I would’ve collapsed. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like during sex. Although I won’t lie, now I’d kind of like to find out.” Jongho’s eyebrows shoot up at your candor. You immediately feel bad for saying it though. This is exactly what Wooyoung has been trying to avoid and you’re playing right into it. Jongho can see your train of thought and reaches out to take your hand. “Hey, don’t do that. You’re still high. It’s natural that you’re going to feel that way. Don’t beat yourself up.” You nod, and continue with your description of the event. “I felt different than I thought I would. Not necessarily during but after. There’s stuff with this no one warned me about.” Jonghos curiosity is piqued again. “Such as?”  
You sit and think about it for a moment. “So, obviously it feels great while it’s happening but no one told me what the actual high was going to feel like. After he was done feeding on me and I recovered from the initial rush I… god this is so weird to say…” Jongho laughs and stops you. “I think I know what you’re trying to say. I could see it all over your faces. I’ve never seen two people look so completely strung out on each other. I’m honestly not sure if that’s normal or if that’s a weird you and Wooyoung thing.” You blush, realizing that apparently Jongho could see how badly you wanted to fuck Wooyoung while he was here. Reading your mind again he shrugs, “this is weird, but you deserve to know. I could smell it on you.” He sees your horrified expression and continues his explanation. “I mean it was expected. Naturally, feeding on someone you love is supposed to trigger sexual feelings in people. As vampires we can smell that on a human a mile away. It means you’re vulnerable and easy to manipulate, which is kind of fucked up but it’s true. So yeah, there’s a certain smell to it. It’s like how you can smell sex in a room. You can smell it on people too I guess.” You cover your face with your hands and he chuckles. “So what was so unexpected about it?” You sit and compose yourself for a second. Just thinking about Wooyoung right now still has you hot and bothered.  
“I assumed that the sexual tension was going to come from the feed itself. So I thought it would be over when he was done but it honestly just amplified. I’ve never wanted him so bad in my life. Just thinking about him now has me fucked up.” He nods understandingly. “Also it seems like the same thing happened to him, which I can’t make sense of. I get that as the prey the chemicals would make me want to willingly give myself to him but why did he react the same way?” Jongho sits and contemplates for a moment. “Honestly, I’m not sure. You’re right, that’s kind of an odd reaction for him to have. You definitely didn’t imagine it though he was just as feral for you as you were for him. Maybe I’ll ask San after this is all over. I'm sure he’s learning all kinds of weird info about Wooyoung right now as we speak.” You giggle at that, but then something dawns on you. Jongho sees your face and immediately asks with his eyes. “I had this weird moment… I think I have a blood fetish or something.” Jongho shakes his head. “Nope, I have an answer to this one. It’s called bloodlust for a reason. That’s the science behind why you both went so crazy after the feed. It’s all chemical. I wouldn’t sweat it.” You nod and look down at your hands. They are still shaking. He can see you’re a little bit distressed so he extends his arms out to you, waving you in to come lay with him. You do. He wraps his arms around you and tries his best to calm you down but you both know it won’t matter. You just have to wait for the come down. “Jongho?”  
“Hmm?” You look up at him nervously. “Is there a crash? Like when this stuff wears off… is it going to get bad?” He looks like this hadn’t occurred to him. “As I said, I’ve never seen what happens to humans so I really don’t know. But,” he sits you up a little bit so he can properly look at you. “Why don’t we call Yunho? He’s been around a long time. I’m sure he will know.” You smile and nod, so grateful to have such a good friend. He pulls out his phone and calls down to Yunho who sounds like he’s been asleep. He comes right up though. Jongho didn’t explain what the problem was, he just said you wanted to talk to him. When Yunho’s tall, sleepy form appears in the doorway you automatically feel bad for waking him up but he doesn’t seem to mind. His expression is soft when he looks at you. He sits on the edge of the bed and instantly you feel a little calmer. “What is it, love? Is something wrong?” You shrug. “I wanted to ask you something, since I don’t know how all this works.” He nods and turns to face you, providing his full attention. “What happens when I come down?” He moves in a little closer so he can see you better. “Well, your eyes are already starting to look more normal so it looks like you are on your way there already, but you’re in luck. You have the easy part. Remember how tired you were after Jongho fed on you?” You nod. “It’s going to be a lot like that. Actually,” he says, taking your hand and examining your wrist, “it might be more than that. It looks like he took more, which is understandable considering how blood deficient he was looking…” he continues to check you out, checking some pulse points and examining your eyes. “I expect all that’ll happen is you’ll be knocked out. You’ll probably be out for the better part of a day maybe? Other than that though you have it easy. The comedown is going to be harder on Wooyoung.”  
He can see you visibly wince at the thought of Wooyoung struggling and tries to calm your nerves. “He will be okay, it’s not painful or anything. It’ll take a while for it to leave his system though. So the state he was in when you guys were done? He’s going to be like that for a while. That’s why we have you separated. I think you know what might’ve happened if we’d just left you guys to your own devices.” You nod. “So then afterwards… things will go back to normal right? I mean, with me and woo…” Yunho smiles sweetly and nods. “Yes. Everything should feel perfectly normal afterwards. If something does change, if you find yourself craving the bite or if seeing him triggers you we might have to do some rehabbing between you, but I don’t see there being any complications. I think you two will be just fine.” That’s a relief. The last thing you want is this unavoidable situation to be the thing that kills your relationship. “So I’ll be able to… look at him?” While Yunho looks confused by the statement, Jongho completely loses it, laughing until there are tears in his eyes. Yunho is just looking between the two of you. It takes a moment for him to grasp what you mean and why Jongho is laughing but once it clicks he also laughs. “Was it really that bad?” You nod and he shakes his head. “I'm not really sure how you feel about Wooyoung normally in that regard, but I’m going to say yes. You’ll be able to look at him and only want to hop on his dick a normal amount.” He and Jongho dissolve into laughter again as a deep blush creeps over your entire face. Once they regain their composure, Yunho leans in and plants a soft kiss on your forehead. “Try and relax. Everything will be fine. You did great. And you won’t have to do it again for maybe a little over a week. Maybe you’ll only have to do it this one time. Who knows what’ll happen by then?” 

San  
Wooyoung is pacing back and forth like a caged tiger. It’s honestly making San dizzy, but he knows the poor kid can’t help it. Normally, Wooyoung is a great concealer. He’s known to hide his feelings and keep a lot to himself. It’s interesting seeing him in this state. He’s too high strung to keep up the wall right now and it makes for an interesting look into his head. “This doesn’t normally happen.” Woo says, clearly nervous. “Why do I feel so…” He let’s it trail off but San knows what he’s getting at. “You aren’t used to feeding on a girl you have feelings for.” He says, still watching him like a tennis match. Wooyoung runs a hand through his hair, frustrated. He finally sits on the edge of the bed. One of his legs shakes idly, as he’s unable to sit entirely still. “You know we should really invest in a treadmill or something…” Wooyoung side-eyes him but says nothing. Pity. He thought it was kind of funny. “What exactly are you struggling with? Are you just wanting more blood or is there something else going on?” Woo shakes his head. “No, no, the blood is great. The blood is plenty. I feel like I could lift a fucking semi right now.” His eyebrows raise slightly. Of all the times he’s fed on humans in this manner he’s never felt that good. Maybe people aren’t bullshitting. Maybe it’s different with feelings involved. “So what does she taste like?” He can see a twinge in Wooyoung’s jaw signifying that he’s gotten under his skin. That’s part of why he said it. He's enjoying messing with his brother. Woo stays quiet, and he assumes he’s just going to ignore the question but after a moment he answers. “I honestly can’t even describe it.” He can see how serious he’s being and realizes he may have just stumbled on to whatever seems to be driving him crazy.  
Wooyoung continues, staring at the floor. “She tasted like… a dream.” San chuckles, assuming this is just endorphin induced rambling. “I uh, I don’t really know what that means.” He says slightly amused. To his surprise woo elaborates, “like so good, you feel like you imagined it. Like it wasn’t even real. You brought me in here and it felt like when something wakes you from a really good dream, and You try so desperately to go back to sleep and get back to it but it’s too late… just an empty feeling.” He’s not sure whether to be concerned or not at this point. He’s never heard Wooyoung speak so candidly about you before, so he kind of wants to keep him talking. Turns out, woo’s not done. “Now I’m just sitting here craving her. It’s not even about the blood at this point it’s just… her. This doesn’t normally happen. Why do I need her so bad right now? It doesn’t make sense to me.” He hangs his head in his hands and San can’t help but pity him. He’s really going through it. “Woo, you’re just bloodlusting. It’s normal. You are just used to doing this a certain way. Normally when you do this it’s some girl who’s name you only half remember. Also, I hate to point this out but usually there’s sex involved which this time there was not. I think it’s just the added chemicals and your lack of an outlet.” He nods still looking at the ground.“Everything you’re saying makes sense, but I’m far too gone to be comforted.” He sighs. San gets up and sits next to him, putting an arm around him. “You’ll be okay. On the bright side, you look a hell of a lot better.”  
This sends Wooyoung into a panic. “Fuck, how is she? Did she look okay? I didn’t even really check on her. I didn’t take too much did I? God I’m such an asshole!” He jumps up and starts pacing again. San can’t help but hold back a laugh. Poor guy is losing his mind. “Why are you an asshole? Everything looked fine to me.” He shakes his head, clearly pissed at himself, though San can’t imagine for what. Wooyoung starts to explain. “I made sure I sealed the bite over, then I tried to get away from her. I didn’t want to do something stupid. I remember asking if she was okay…” he rubs at his eyes, like it might clear his clouded memory. “I didn’t even really check on her though I just…” He’s getting more and more agitated but San is having trouble piecing together why he’s angry. “Did you do something? I’m at a loss here woo.” He just continues walking angry circles around the room. Great. Guess he’s done talking for now. It dawns on San that this is only the beginning and he almost groans aloud. He’s got at least twelve more hours of this if not more. It’ll be easier to put him at ease if he can figure out what’s setting him off. Sounds like he might have to make a trip down the hall.


	14. The comedown

He sighs and watches Wooyoung do a couple more laps before speaking. “Are you going to be okay if I leave you here alone? Actually, scratch that I’ll call joong.” He texts Hongjoong to come up and he’s there almost instantly. “Is everything okay? Is he being combative or what?” San shakes his head. “No he’s fine, he’s just being a little emotional and I’m trying to figure out what the deal is. I just need to go down the hall and talk to Jongho. I didn’t want to leave him alone.” Hongjoong nods. “I’ll see if maybe he will talk to me.” San nods and heads down the dark corridor. It’s dark and silent, everyone must be asleep. He peeks his head in the curtains around Wooyoung’s room and finds Jongho still awake. You are curled up against his side with your head on his chest sleeping soundly. Jongho is playing with your hair, probably his way of keeping you calm. He can’t help but smile down at your sleeping form, you just look so peaceful. Jongho looks up at him questioningly. “I left Wooyoung with Hongjoong… did everything seem okay when you got here?” Jongho looks weirded out by the question, now assuming something is wrong. “I mean yeah, I guess. Why? What’s up? Is he okay?” San nods to reassure him. “He’s just being a bit… emotional? And I’m trying to figure out why. So everything looked normal when you got here…” he trails off thinking. “Can I see her neck?” Jongho nods and San approaches the side of the bed. He gently tilts your chin to one side, exposing your bite. While it looks like it’s bruising, it looks pretty normal. He explains to Jongho what he was looking for. “The way he was rambling, I was worried that maybe he’d bitten her twice or something but it doesn’t look like it. Did she say anything to you?” Jongho looks concerned, he can see him replaying your conversations in his head. “We talked about it. She was pretty spaced out though. What do you think happened?”  
He shrugs. “ I’m really not sure. Wooyoung seems to feel really bad about something that happened, but from what I can tell things went exactly like they were supposed to so I’m as confused as you are. Wish I could talk to her…” Jongho looks down at you, contemplating, then shrugs. “You can try and wake her if you want. Don’t know if you’ll have any luck though she’s been out for a while.” He feels bad even trying it but he knows you could help him tremendously in calming Wooyoung. He reaches down lightly and gently shakes you a little. Lucky for him you are a naturally light sleeper. You groggily open your eyes, and he can tell you’re having trouble focusing on him. He crouches down to your eye level to help. “Hey you, how are you feeling?” You offer him a sad excuse for a smile and very quietly whisper ‘tired’. He nods and apologizes for having to wake you. “I just wanted to ask you about something.” You nod and sit up a little doing your best to listen and be helpful. “You’re not upset with Wooyoung are you?” That seems to wake you up. You rub at your eyes, and gain a little more of your voice back. “No, of course not. Why would I be?” San shakes his head. “Can you tell me what happened after? Like, between the bite and Jongho getting here?” Your skin flushes a little at the question, telling him he’s asked the right thing. “Well, uhm, he pulled away and he went down to the end of the bed, all the way over there.” You point to the spot. “He looked… a little crazy, I’m not even sure how to describe it but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” He nods knowingly. “He asked if I was okay… then I came down toward him. I feel bad about it now, I should have given him space…” this must be the part he’s freaking about. He reaches out and touches you gently. “It’s okay, there’s not right or wrong here. What else happened?” You hang your head, like you're ashamed of something. What is it with you two? “I… I kind of came on to him. I didn’t really mean to! Or I guess I did sort of, I don’t know I was really high and he just looked so good and I just…” Then your eyes widen and you cover your face in your hands. “I remember now.”   
You look at Jongho now as you speak. “What I was talking about earlier, with the blood. I don’t know why but I really wanted to—” you cut yourself off and look mortified. At this point San is almost amused. How could both of you feel so guilty about whatever is going on here? You know he wants you to elaborate so you cover your face again so he can’t look at you while you speak. “I remember seeing the blood, my blood, on his lips and I really wanted to… taste it. I have no idea why—” he cuts you off there and chuckles. “It’s okay love, no judgement here.” He raises his hands in surrender. “So you came on to him, I assume he let you?” You nod. “He did the same. We were both so high. After I came at him he came back at me. I was egging him on. I know it was wrong, I knew it was wrong in the moment but I just… really wanted him. He was good though. He stopped me before I pushed him too far.” San shakes his head. “I think I know why he’s upset, it just makes no real sense.” He looks to Jongho. “He’s mad because he let her push him and he knows what could’ve happened. He feels like he should have told her no.” You look confused and he explains. “He feels like he put you in danger because he couldn’t resist you when you came on to him. He’s mad he reciprocated because it was risky. You know how paranoid he is.” He takes your hand. “Thank you. I know what to do now.” He can see you’re worried about woo. “Don’t stress. He’s fine. He’s having an overly emotional response to this because he’s still fucked up. He’s like… when people get overly emotional when they’re drunk. You know how they’ll get all worked up about stuff they normally wouldn’t? That’s what he’s doing.” He squeezes your hand, nods at Jongho, and heads back to deal with his brother.   
He pulls back the curtain to his room to find Hongjoong looking much like he did earlier, just sitting back on the bed watching Wooyoung pace himself to death. When he sees him he rises and comes to meet him in the doorway. “He wouldn’t say anything to me, did you find out what the deal is?” San nods. “Yeah I talked to her. Apparently after the feed things got heated, not in an angry way, but you know… the other way. She came at him and obviously in this state he wasn’t about to refuse her. So he gave in to her but stopped her before she went too far. I think he still feels like he put her in danger. He’s not entirely wrong, that could’ve ended badly, but even then that’s always a risk. If anything he should be proud of himself. He refused the woman he loves in full bloodlust mode that’s like… amazing. I don’t know if I could do it.” Hongjoong nods in agreement. “It would take a tremendous amount of will power for sure.” He pauses and they both look to Wooyoung, still pacing and looking frustrated as ever. “So what can we do to help him? I feel like just saying, ‘hey man, it’s fine. Nothing happened’ isn’t really going to cut it.” San nods in agreement. He’s not really sure what to do either. They decide they need backup. Hongjoong pulls out his phone and texts Yunho.

Meeting upstairs ASAP. 

He arrives shortly after, looking sleepy but alert. They fill him in on the situation and he sits for a moment, processing. San speaks first. “Would it help him to talk to her? It seems like his memory of the events is a little hazy. Maybe she can reassure him she’s not upset with him and that’ll help?” The others look skeptical but, since no one has a better idea they decide to lead with that. Everyone shuffles into the room and San closes the curtain behind them. Hongjoong decides to do the talking. Since Wooyoung seems agitated he figures his status as the eldest will help keep him in line. “Hey, Wooyoungie, will you sit down with us for a second? I know it’s hard to keep still, I can see you’re wired. I just want to talk to you about what’s going on.” He looks reluctant but as Hongjoong predicted, he obeys the older man. They all take a seat. San is nervous. If this conversation goes too far south Wooyoung could fly into a rage. He doesn’t want to have to fight his best friend. There is also the added concern that with Wooyoung being so jacked up on blood right now he could probably snap San in half. As an added precaution he texts Yeosang. 

Woo is freaking out a little. We are going to try and talk to him but if it doesn’t work we might need you up here. 

Okay, just say the word.

With Yeosang on standby downstairs, they are as ready as they are going to get. Hongjoong starts. “So what I’m gathering here is, it got intense after the feed right? Do you want to tell me about it?” Wooyoung’s eyes are still super dilated and it’s making his face very difficult to read, but now on top of that, there are tears welling up in them at Hongjoong’s words. “I— I tried to get away from her, hyung. I was going to just leave right then but I just… couldn’t. It’s like my feet were nailed to the floor and then she approached me and I couldn’t walk away.” Yunho reaches out carefully and places a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. I know it’s hard. It’s really hard to walk away. Everything is okay though. You didn’t hurt her Woo. You easily could have and you didn’t. You did everything right.” He shakes his head. “Bad decisions… really bad decisions were almost made. I almost couldn’t stop…” a couple of stray tears stream down his cheeks. San is heartbroken seeing him like this. He knows it’s just the high but even under bloodlust everything is rooted in truth. The feelings are real. Yunho moves closer to him and tries to console him. “It’s okay woo. The important thing here is you did. You love her right?” Woo nods. “If you really love her you’ll never hurt her. You’ll never push her too far.” Wooyoung starts to look back at the floorboards but Yunho stops him.  
“Hey, she’s fine. I talked to her. She was perfectly healthy and fine. She wasn’t upset with you or anything—” at this Wooyoung jumps up and starts pacing again. Hongjoong watches him carefully making sure he’s not going to do anything crazy. But once he starts talking it’s evident that he won’t. “She wouldn’t though.” He says shaking his head. “She’d never be upset with me, even if I did hurt her because she’s just that good. She trusts me. She’s willing to give everything to me. That’s just who she is. She’s giving and she’s kind, even to her own detriment. I could bleed her to the brink of death and she would tell me she understands with her dying breath. She’s like an angel. Talking to her wouldn’t do any good. She will just tell me she loves me and that none of it matters because she doesn’t like to see me hurt.” San can’t help but soften while he listens to him talk about you. He can see the love he has for you fierce in his eyes and in his voice when he talks. Unfortunately, talking to you isn’t what Wooyoung seems to want. Now they have to think of another plan. San sees a figure in the doorway in his periphery, and finds that Yeosang has now joined them. He speaks, startling the others. “What do you want Wooyoung?” He stops pacing and turns to look at Yeosang. “What will make you feel better? I know what you did was risky but at this point it’s over and done with. It could’ve been bad but it wasn’t and now we can adjust for next time. But, you can’t keep doing this. Beating yourself up helps no one.” His words are harsh but his tone is not and it seems to snap Wooyoung back into focus a little. Wooyoung stays silent for a minute as the rest look on. Then, he looks back to Yeosang and speaks again. “Can I see her?”   
Hongjoong seems nervous at the thought. San too is a little uneasy. Woo is fine in this room surrounded by them, but there is always the possibility that if he sees you it might re-trigger the bloodlust. Everyone looks around at each other in silent contemplation. Then Wooyoung speaks again, this time to Hongjoong directly. “Please hyung, you can even come with me. In fact, I’d prefer it. Fuck, all of you can if you want. I just really need to see her.” San glances between all the faces waiting for a verdict. Finally, Hongjoong rises from the bed. “Alright Wooyoung, But we’re all coming with you. Plus Jongho is there and you know if you make one wrong move he will do what he has to do. You need to be careful.” He nods graciously. 

Jongho

Jongho is jolted awake by the feel of you stirring. Only then does he realize he dozed off. You aren’t awake, just dreaming it seems. He can’t help but smile. You’re kind of cute all snuggled in blankets. He hears somebody approaching and refocuses his attention on the sound. He assumes it’s probably Yunho checking up on him, but is caught off guard when it’s Wooyoung that opens the curtain. Immediately there’s a cold pang in his chest. He might have to fight Wooyoung. He stands, taking up a protective stance in front of you. Wooyoung is just watching him wearily. He slowly lifts a hand in a sort of ‘wait’ gesture. Hongjoong appears from his left side. “He just wants to see her. I told him he could as long as we came with him. He should be fine.” As Hongjoong speaks, jongho can see San and Yeosang creep into frame peering into the room through the gaps between. Wooyoung looks almost sad, though his bloodrush eyes make it questionable. Jongho doesn’t like to see his brothers distressed. He nods at joong and Wooyoung and slowly sits back beside you on the bed, still watching them carefully. If this turns out to be a mistake he needs to be ready to protect you. Wooyoung approaches slowly as the rest watch on. Hongjoong stays right behind him, watching him just as closely as jongho. He gets to the edge of the bed and immediately his expression softens at the sight of you. He just stares for a moment while everyone else’s eyes are on him, then he looks to jongho. He meets his eyes and without even speaking jongho can see what he wants, he’s asking permission to touch you. This is hard. He isn’t sure what to do. If he lets him and something happens he will never forgive himself but he also doesn’t feel right denying him this either. Wooyoung lifts his hands in a surrender and moves forward slowly, his eyes never leaving jongho’s. Then he looks to your sleeping form and very lightly reaches down and moves some hair back from your eyes. He starts to lean down and immediately jongho goes on the alert, a hand flying to woo’s chest to keep him back. He meets jongho’s eyes again, removes his hand, and without breaking eye contact leans down over you. Jongho is holding his breath at this point. Wooyoung slowly turns back to you and softly kisses the side of your head. Then he straightens up and puts his hands back in the air, signifying he’s done. He steps back from the bed and Hongjoong leads him back out of the room.   
Jongho feels like he’s been holding his breath through this whole ordeal. He collapses back against the pillows, thanking god it’s over. In his relief he accidentally wakes you. You open your eyes just barely, groggily looking around. Then you realize he’s further away than before. He’s just watching you, hoping you’re not too mad he woke you. Without a word you crawl over and lay your head on his chest, snuggling into his side and hugging him tight. Tonight he’s your teddy bear. He can’t help but smile. It feels good to be close to someone again. Once your breathing slows again his mind wanders back to Wooyoung. He hopes he isn’t having too hard a time. The look on his face had said otherwise though. His eyes looked so sad. He did think it was sweet the way he’d looked at you though. While you and woo weren’t secretive about your relationship, you guys typically kept the sappy stuff behind closed doors. It was interesting for him to see Wooyoung with you. It’s a side of him he’s never really seen. Wooyoung rarely softens the way he just did. It makes jongho happy for you. Clearly, you’re very loved. He hopes you’re aware of how much.


End file.
